


One Year Later

by Valethra



Series: With a Little Help From my Friends (DR) [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Anniversary, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, M/M, Or rather me trying to be funny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-07 15:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12235545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valethra/pseuds/Valethra
Summary: It's been one year since Mondo and Kiyotaka started their romantic relationship, mostly thanks to the interference of their friends. Neither of the boys want to mess up such an important event— looks like it's time to call in the troops once again. Only this time, their army gets even bigger.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was planning for this to be a oneshot, but this way I can include what I've finished, since it's taking so long. It's just to let you guys know that I haven't abandoned the DR fandom. ;)
> 
> I should also specify why this took me so fucking long: I was finally getting around to SDR2. More about that later. But I thought I should mention in advance that certain aspects of this fic/AU seem a little odd with what I now know, (SDR2 SPOILERS) mostly that Hope's Peak ISN'T a crazy shady school that does horrible experiments on children and covers up murders and that Jin Kirigiri is a totally nice guy with good intentions (I haven't seen the DR3 anime or read DR 0 yet, so for all I know he wasn't super involved in the shadiness). Just dismiss that as being part of the whole "non-despair AU" thing.

Kyouko Kirigiri wasn't sure why, exactly, she was in her father's office. A promise was a promise, but it would've been nice to have known what she was supposed to be arguing in favor of.

She'd been approached in the halls by Kiyotaka Ishimaru, who had asked her to meet him in his dorm. She'd done so, and he'd informed her that he had delivered a rule change proposal to her father and that he would appreciate it if she could back him up.

"I will tell you after it gets approved," he'd replied when she asked him what the proposal was. "I do not wish to get anyone's hopes up. But it's something that has been suggested to me by other students more than once, and I feel it would be very beneficial for some of our more troubled peers."

Whatever was in that folder on the desk was clearly something very important to Kiyotaka. He'd tried to act like it was only in the interest of his fulfilling his commitment to the other students, like it was just a part of his job as a prefect, but Kirigiri had easily spotted the glimmer in his eyes when he talked about it.

Jin Kirigiri offered his daughter a seat and a snack and some coffee, and she took the chair and accepted the offer of a hot drink. She could use the caffeine. The start of the new semester meant that she, like everyone else, had been bombarded with essays and tests left and right.

 _Schoolwork_. She smirked as a certain biker came to mind. He'd been getting pretty serious academically, and she was sure she knew who to thank for that. Since he had started dating Hope's Peak Academy's most well-renowned prefect, Mondo Oowada's attitude and school performance had drastically improved. The two were nearly inseparable, and went everywhere and did everything together. She'd worried it was co-dependency at first, but had been dissuaded from that by asking the boy himself.

"Nah, ya don't have to worry about that. He's still my best friend. I can do stuff alone, but why _wouldn't_ I wanna hang out with my best friend?" Mondo had replied, his grin wide and bright. The innocence of the sentiment was...

...Well, it was cute. A lot of people stopped being friends once they became a couple, but both of the boys were insistent that it was an important part of a healthy and happy relationship. Kirigiri felt like they were right about that. How long had it been, anyway? Time seemed to fly at Hope's Peak.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Jin asked. His relationship with his daughter was somewhat strained, so he didn't assume she was there to talk about the weather. He handed off one of the coffee cups in his hand as he took a seat.

"Did you receive a proposal earlier this week? From Ishimaru-kun?" She asked the question casually just before taking a sip of coffee. The instant rush of warmth was nice, even if it was a little too sweet for her tastes.

"Ah, yes," Jin confirmed, taking hold of the envelope. "He seemed rather excited by the concept. I won't lie, though— I have my doubts. It's a pretty big change, and would have to be strictly regulated. And I'm sure there would be extra costs... Though he did suggest that the students interested would be willing to use their stipend."

Kirigiri narrowed her eyes in mild annoyance. Her father seemed to be talking in code, like he was deliberately avoiding letting her have a hint as to what the envelope contained. It was hard to make a logical argument for something if she didn't know what it was.

"Well... I think that you should allow it. Ishimaru-kun always has everyone's best interests in mind. He wouldn't propose something with associated costs if he didn't feel they were well worth it."

It was the best argument she could make with the information that she had. Jin observed her for a moment before smirking.

"You don't know what's in here, do you?" He asked, patting the envelope. Kirigiri winced and clenched her fists. _Damn_. Jin may have decided he wanted nothing to do with the Kirigiri legacy, but he'd still been trained as a detective, and it showed.

"Anyway," Jin added after taking a moment to laugh. "It's funny you should bring it up, because—"

As if on cue, Kiyotaka burst through the door, and he carried what looked like a presentation under his arm. He had stacks of papers and one of those folding poster board displays that kids use in science fair projects. After a moment, Mondo awkwardly crept up behind him and put down a desk he'd probably taken from a nearby classroom. He gave a crooked salute and ducked back out of the room. Kirigiri snickered under her breath and shook her head.

"I apologize for that— I can only carry so many things at once." Kiyotaka smiled and shrugged casually. He'd loosened up a lot, Kirigiri noticed. He used to be so much more rigid and serious.

"It's quite alright, just let him know he's allowed to sit down or grab a snack next time. We ought to pay our workers, right?" Jin laughed at his own joke, and Kirigiri rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'm guessing that you have your presentation ready for me? Kyouko, you can step outside if you—"

"No," Kiyotaka piped up. "I-I, uh, value her input. You can stay if you want, Kirigiri-chan. ...You've never done me wrong before."

The prefect grinned, and Kirigiri hid her slight blush. He'd been oddly devoted to her ever since she'd offered help in arranging the events that had led to his current relationship. It wasn't like she'd done anything that any good friend wouldn't have done. She didn't understand why he felt the need to be so mushy about it.

"Okay," she grumbled. "I'll stay and listen."

"Thank you. ...Anyway, let me get set up."

Kiyotaka moved forward to readjust the desk Mondo had brought in and set his poster board on it. Kirigiri couldn't see it past his back. He straightened his stack of papers before turning and giving a salute. As soon as he'd moved away from the board, Kirigiri blinked in disbelief.

The board was covered with text and pictures, and a lot of it seemed typical— pie charts and cost estimates and the like. The thing she hadn't expected was the subject line, or all of the pictures of animals.

 _The Benefits of Pet Ownership in Youth_. Jin opened up the folder he'd already been given and quickly compared its contents to the board, looking unfazed. Kirigiri was having trouble wrapping her mind around it.

Kiyotaka wanted to amend the rules to allow students to own certain kinds of pets and keep them on campus grounds. She knew the school had made an exception for one student, an upperclassman who kept a hamsters in his dorm room (and usually on his person), but that was only due to his title. What benefits did Kiyotaka see this bringing the other students? Had it really been suggested to him by others?

"I'll be honest, Ishimaru-san... When I first saw this, I thought you were out of your mind. But, well, you've made some good points so far about the benefits of having responsibility in caring for something. I'm curious as to what else you have."

Kiyotaka looked serious now. He was in prefect mode, and he gestured at the first chart on his board.

"There are plain benefits to animal ownership, particularly owning dogs— on average, people who own pets live longer lives. This may be due to decreased stress and lowered blood pressure. And..." Kiyotaka tapped at another chart. "Animal ownership has proven very effective in providing relief from depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental illness. Even for those without a diagnosed illness, animals are therapeutic and usually reduce aggression in their owners."

"So your argument is that it would help certain students with their troubles and make others more well-behaved?"

Jin looked mildly intrigued and tapped his pen thoughtfully against his desk. Kiyotaka nodded.

"Precisely that. I know it may be expensive to provide animals to certain students, but Hope's Peak is supposed to be something of a grand experiment, yes? This institution takes people with all kinds of broad talents and tries to figure out how to harness their potential, to help them learn, and to make them successful members of society. To shy away from such a social experiment because of _costs_... Well, that's not in keeping with the spirit of the academy."

"What kinds of costs were you thinking there would be?" Kirigiri asked. She had to admit that she was intrigued, and her earlier point stood— Kiyotaka wouldn't recommend adding to the budget if he didn't feel it was for the greater good.

"Well, I suggested that the school pay for the adoption costs and basic supplies, as well as providing funds for basic veterinary care, for students who couldn't afford it. Only regular checkups, though, or treatment of illnesses that couldn't have been prevented. If the animal were to become ill or injured because of the student's actions, they would have to pay via their stipend. After that, other supplies and food would have to be paid for and provided by the students, except in those cases where they cannot afford it."

"That seems reasonable enough," Kirigiri agreed. "But would we provide this to anyone who asked? I can see where a lot of things could go horribly wrong."

"Which I _have_ thought of." Kiyotaka tapped his stack of papers with his hand before handing it off to Jin.

" _Proposed restrictions_ ," Jin read aloud.

"There would be a _thorough_ application process, and each student would be considered individually, as I don't believe a broad approval system would work here. Approving the applications could be added to the list of tasks for the disciplinary committee. If it's believed that a student is responsible enough or could benefit from owning a pet, the application would be approved. After that, there would be a discussion about the kind of pet, and the future owner would be given a short course on animal ownership and a rundown of their responsibilities.

"There would also be rules the owners would have to follow. Keeping their pet quiet after hours, cleaning up after them when necessary, training them to behave, and keeping them from causing any harm or damage, among other things. Students would be required to pay a fine, for instance, if their pet peed on the carpet or damaged school property. And if a student proves to be incapable of raising the animal, they would have their approval revoked and the animal would be rehomed."

"It seems you've put a lot of thought into this," Jin mused. He was looking through all of the papers in the stack he'd been handed and reviewing the contents of the folder, and his eyes kept darting back to the charts on the board.

"It's been suggested by several students. A lot of them are very lonely or anxious here, being separated from their families. And many students suffer from depression or nervous disorders or the like and could benefit from having something warm to hold onto, something that's always happy to see them."

"Ishimaru-kun always has everyone's best interests at heart," Kirigiri reiterated, looking her father in the eye. Jin looked conflicted.

The principal and the prefect hashed out a few more details and concerns, and then Kiyotaka turned over all of his paperwork and the folded-up poster board. He bowed as he shook Jin's hand.

"I'll talk to the committee. You've more or less convinced me, but those guys are real uptight about money. Let's hope for the best."

"Thank you, sir! It's always a pleasure."

Kirigiri nodded her goodbye and followed Kiyotaka out of the room as he awkwardly waddled forward with the desk. He returned it to the nearest classroom, and then he turned to head back to his dorm.

"You're not even going to discuss it with me?" Kirigiri called after him. He slowed his walk and allowed her to catch up.

"What more is there to discuss? I'm thankful for your help, by the way. I can only hope that it goes through."

Kirigiri couldn't think of any more questions to ask on the subject. She shrugged and stroked her chin.

"How is Oowada-kun? Things are still going well, I presume?" Of course, she saw the two of them often enough, but rarely caught either of them alone, and she wouldn't ask about private details of their relationship in front of others.

Kiyotaka instantly lit up like the sun, beamed like he always did at the mention of his boyfriend's name. Kirigiri shook her head. He was almost _too_ sweet sometimes.

"It's going splendidly! I really don't know what I was so scared of. Not a whole lot has to change if you don't want it to. People are often so stubborn, and have to have everything their way... We both understand that what we have is a lot more important than the petty things. It takes some work, but it doesn't _feel_ like work, if that makes any sense. It's... It's easy."

Kirigiri tried not to smile. It was difficult, and Kiyotaka's muffled giggling told her that she hadn't succeeded.

"Have you gotten around to telling your father?" She asked. She cringed as soon as she had said it. Perhaps it wasn't any of her business. Last she'd heard, Mondo had told the other boys he was saddened by the fact that Kiyotaka felt he couldn't inform his father. That had been months ago, though— just before everyone had been let out for their last summer vacation. Kiyotaka's smile faded, though only slightly.

"I-I have," he answered. "He wasn't terribly thrilled about it at first. Which is to be expected— he's a policeman, and Mondo has a criminal record. But he's extended an olive branch for the sake of my happiness. Mondo's been over for a dinner a couple of times. He always tries so hard to look good for my father that he ends up putting his foot in his mouth, though."

"Oh, no. I hope it hasn't been too bad."

"Nothing _devastating_ , I assure you, but..." Kiyotaka trailed off and shuddered as he recalled something. "Well, I don't want to embarrass him any more than he already is."

The two walked together for another minute or so until they at last arrived at the hallway containing the doors to everyone's rooms. Kirigiri bowed, smiling as the prefect excitedly returned the gesture.

"I'll see you soon, then," she said politely. Kiyotaka saluted her as soon as he stood upright again.

"Soon! Have a wonderful evening, Kirigiri-chan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So about SDR2: I LOVED IT and have officially adopted yet another son as well as a new ship for my list of OTPs. Based on what you know about me through my author's notes and my writing, try to guess who my new son is! I'm curious. >:3
> 
> I do generally think the SDR2 cast is a bit stronger as a whole, and I hope to write stuff using those characters in the future. I really want to write stuff that includes all of my precious children. <3


	2. Regroup

Kyouko Kirigiri had expected to go to her room to study and go to bed shortly after her meeting with her father and Kiyotaka.

Instead, she got a summons via text message.

_Donut Girl: Kyouko-chan! Come 2 my dorm room! It's URGENT!!_

Kirigiri raised an eyebrow at the message. The expression remained as she typed out her response. It always took her longer to send text messages than she was willing to admit, largely because of her gloved hands.

_Lady Sherlock: I can go there before I go to my own room and be there in a few minutes, but may I ask why?_  
_Donut Girl: That's a surprise! We all have 2 discuss it in person!!_

Kirigiri sighed and slid her phone into her pocket, resigning herself to asking in person. She wondered what her friend had meant by "all" as she made a turn for the designated meeting place.

She quickly found that, as the text message had implied, she wasn't the only one who had been invited. When she entered the unlocked dorm room, she saw six pairs of eyes focus on her. She gave an awkward bow in greeting.

"...Hello, everyone. I'm in the proper place, correct?"

"Of course," the meeting's host confirmed. She gestured at the low table. "Why don't you sit with Sakura and Naegi-kun?"

Kirigiri eyed the table. Sakura, who seemed to be finishing a cup of tea, gave her a friendly wave, and Naegi a lopsided and nervous-looking smile. The difference in their sizes was amusing, particularly because Naegi was noticeably small. She took a seat between them and nodded at them both.

It was Aoi Asahina's dorm room. The girl herself stood by her desk and rested some of her weight on it with her arm. Leon Kuwata, Yasuhiro Hagakure, and Sayaka Maizono sat near the edge of her bed. It was an assortment of people that seemed familiar somehow, that tugged on the strings of memory in Kirigiri's mind. She knew: she had overlooked something important.

"...So why are we all here? What did you want to discuss?"

Asahina made a disgusted sound and slapped a hand to her own forehead. Kirigiri heard Naegi, beside her, hiss through his teeth.

"We're not ALL here. We're still waiting on Fujisaki-chan! And are you saying you don't already know? Look around! Think about what time of year it is!"

Kirigiri still couldn't recall. It was making her anxious. She didn't normally forget things, and she always liked being one step ahead of everyone else in the room.

As if she'd heard her own name, Chihiro appeared in the doorway and didn't bother with greetings. She ran to the table and sat across from Naegi. Asahina nodded at her, but didn't let the intrusion stop her scolding.

"I can't _believe_ you forgot! Weren't you the mastermind?!"

Asahina groaned as she frantically searched through her messy desk drawers for a calendar. As soon as she'd found it, she more or less threw it across the room to have it land on her table. Kirigiri flipped the calendar open and saw that Asahina was completely correct— Kirigiri had let an important date slip from her mind, and for that, she was rather ashamed.

"...That soon? ...Their anniversary is in a month?"

"More like two and a half weeks," Chihiro quietly corrected. Kirigiri nodded. She now understood why Asahina had gathered this particular group in her dorm room.

Nearly one year ago, everyone here had gotten involved in forcing both Kiyotaka and Mondo to confront their feelings for one another. Each and every person had contributed something. That said, Kirigiri still felt a bit of resentment towards Leon and Hagakure for ruining what _should have been_ the perfect moment for their first kiss. Mondo had managed to rectify the situation later, but still.

"Alright, so what are we doin'? We gonna meddle again?" Leon asked with a devious grin. Kirigiri shot him a look that made his grin waver.

"Well... I'm not sure," Asahina admitted. "This is their first anniversary. We don't want to plan something totally separate from them, right? They're probably both planning to do nice things for each other, and we shouldn't get in the way of that."

"But what if their plans won't work together?" Chihiro said. "We don't want them to plan different things for the same time and have it not work out. There has to be some way to help them both without giving up their surprises."

"Definitely," Maizono agreed. "Wouldn't it be terrible if they accidentally got each other the same thing? Or worse— get something that the other won't like? They need _some_ outside assistance, I'm sure."

"That's it, then... We'll just be backup."

Everyone turned to look at Naegi, who quickly blushed when he counted the eyes on him. He scratched the back of his neck and chuckled, forgetting, for a moment, what he wanted to say. Kirigiri gently nudged him with her leg.

"Go on, Makoto-kun. We're listening."

"R-right. Well... The guys and I should probably check in with Oowada-kun just to make sure he remembers. He's never been very good with dates. And you girls should check on Ishimaru-kun. Maybe they both want to do something really nice, but don't have the manpower, you know? We should just let them know that we'll help out with whatever they're planning."

"We should be crossover agents again," Chihiro giggled, nodding at Maizono. Maizono laughed and flipped her hair proudly. Kirigiri remembered just then— Chihiro and Maizono had been sent back and forth to help both Kiyotaka and Mondo.

"And this _is_ our final year at Hope's Peak," Sakura added. "Should we not make every occasion as special as possible? It will be the last chance we have to form good memories of this place."

"So, it's settled!" Asahina declared, clapping her hands together once. She looked down at her closest friend. "C'mon, Sakura. Let's go find Taka-kun!"

"A-already?!" Chihiro cried. "Sh-shouldn't we wait until the morn—"

The bubbly girl, ignoring Chihiro's protests, grabbed hold of Sakura's hand, and the two of them left the room. Kirigiri intended to follow them, as Chihiro and Maizono likely planned to do as well. But before she could do that, she had to take care of another problem in advance.

She walked to the edge of the bed and glared at Leon and Hagakure with all the strength she could muster. She watched as they both shriveled up and shrank away. Maizono, between them, smirked.

"Before we begin, I should remind the two of you that you had better not pull something like what you did the last time. Do you understand? This is important to both of them. None of your stupid pranks," she said harshly, balling up a gloved fist as a silent threat. They both rapidly nodded. Hagakure clapped his hands together in prayer.

"No interference— we promise!"

She studied them both, for a long moment, until she felt she could safely decide that they were being sincere. She looked down at Naegi, who smiled shyly.

"You'll be in charge of them, Makoto-kun. If anything happens, I'm holding you responsible."

His eyes went wide.

"M-Me?! But why—"

"We already know these two can't be trusted," Kirigiri interrupted. "My expectations of them are rather low. _You_ , however, rarely disappoint. So, it's on you."

Naegi blushed. She was being demanding, but her flattery put him at ease and made him want to agree to her terms. He knew that she was probably doing that on purpose, but it didn't make a bit of difference. He gulped and smiled.

"...Alright. ...I'll make sure they behave. You can count on me, Kyouko-chan!"

Her face stayed expressionless for a moment. Then, finally, she smiled that tiny smile of hers that made it look like she was hiding something. She glanced at both Chihiro and Maizono, and the girls stood and followed her. She stopped by the door to give the boys a small, polite bow.

"...Thanks, boys. I'll see you all later."

With that, she left, her long hair flowing behind her and her entourage on her heels. Naegi had always wondered how she managed to keep that hair so shiny and well-kept.

There was a momentary silence at the sudden decrease in people. Leon started to glance around the room. Naegi frowned at him.

"We should get going. Just because Asahina-chan is gone doesn't mean you can stay in here and snoop around."

Leon put up his hands defensively, but the tug at the corner of his lip betrayed his true intentions.

"What are you accusing me of?! I wasn't planning to do anything of the sort!"

"Of course not," Naegi flatly replied. He stood up and brushed imaginary dust from his pants. "Come on, guys."

"Do we have to find Oowada-chi _right now?_ " Hagakure asked. "I mean, I know the girls are already bothering Ishimaru-chi, but..."

Naegi thought on it for a moment, and then he shrugged.

"...Yeah, we should probably wait until tomorrow afternoon to talk to him. He can get kind of cranky when he's tired."

" _A little?_ " Leon joked.

Hagakure and Leon stood and lazily made their way out into the hallway. Naegi carefully shut the door behind him. The three went their separate ways, confirming with one another beforehand that they would confront Mondo together right after their classes the next day.

As Naegi headed for his room, he swore he could hear a chorus of giggles and clicking heels. There was no doubt in his mind as to the source— it was the girls, all in search of their favorite prefect.

He smiled to himself, certain that everything would go according to plan this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll notice that the number of chapters has been officially decided! I decided to just stretch this out into a full story of its own like the first one, as it gives me an excuse to include the SDR2 cameos I've been hoping to do and to get used to writing them. I'm not going to put them in the cast tags because I want it to be a surprise when they show up! 
> 
> I'm not sure exactly how far apart in age the classes are supposed to be, but I know that class 77 is supposed to be older. So here, the 78th class are in their third year and the 77th class has just recently graduated.


	3. Boy's Life of (NOT) Despair

The next afternoon, Naegi hesitated, nervous, outside of Mondo Oowada's dorm room door.

Thirty seconds of total silence, and he felt an elbow jut into his ribcage.

"What're ya waitin' for?!" Leon hissed. "Just knock already!"

Naegi nodded, drawing in a deep breath. Instead of knocking, though, he decided to press the little button beside the door and speak into the microphone there.

"Oowada-kun? It's me, Naegi. I have Kuwata-kun and Hagakure-kun with me. Care to let us in?"

There was another silence as they waited for a response. The dorm rooms were soundproofed, and so they couldn't tell if Mondo had gotten up to answer the door or not. But after a long moment, the door handle moved, and they backed away to allow him to open it. Mondo swung the door open. The trio was greeted by his angry face, tinted slightly red.

"You scared the shit out of me, Naegi! I was tryin' to do my homework."

Hagakure whistled.

"Were you, now? ...I still have to get used to you saying stuff like that."

Mondo's glare hardened, and his blush darkened.

"Of course I'm doing my friggin' homework! Taka's practically requiring me to go to college. Gotta keep my grades up."

Naegi noticed, just then, that Mondo swore a lot less frequently than he used to. He was still relatively foul-mouthed, but before, swear words had peppered his speech as often as conjunctions. He smiled politely at Mondo.

"That's great, Oowada-kun. And we don't want to distract you, but we wanted to talk to you about something important."

Mondo raised an eyebrow and studied them. He was thinking, surely, about the last time he'd had this particular group show up suddenly at his door. A moment of silence, and then he stepped aside and gestured within.

"Alright. Come on in."

Leon pumped a victorious fist in the air and didn't wait for permission to be seated. Just like the last time, he and his comrades sat around the table while Mondo cautiously sat across from them.

There was another painful silence. Naegi cleared his throat.

"So... Quiz time. What important date is coming up in about two and a half weeks?"

Mondo furrowed his brow and frowned. He looked up as he thought on the answer.

"...Uh... Two and half weeks? That's a kind of a long ways away, right?" He paused to rub at his chin. "Let's see... Is there an exam or somethin'?"

Leon, Hagakure, and Naegi all groaned at once, and Mondo jumped, instantly looking panicked.

"Don't tell me— you forgot?!" Naegi squeaked.

"N— No!" Mondo argued. He rose, angrily, from the table and stomped to his desk, where he fished around until he found his own calendar, and returned to the table with it. He flipped the page to the correct month and closely studied it. His glare wavered, and then it vanished. "...Oh. It's... Already?"

"So you remembered to write it down," Naegi breathed, feeling slightly relieved. "...You didn't FORGET, you just didn't realize it was that soon because you haven't used the calendar in a little while, right?"

"Right." Mondo slapped the calendar down. Naegi couldn't help but smirk. Mondo hadn't actually marked the date with "anniversary," but with a single large heart drawn in sharpie. It amused him that Mondo immediately knew what it meant when he looked at it.

"That's better than just straight-up forgetting, I guess..." Leon mumbled.

Mondo shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"I, uh..." He inhaled a deep breath and focused his lavender eyes on Naegi. He and his boyfriend shared a particular trait— their unusually-colored eyes were piercing and impossible to ignore. "I guess I'm glad you stopped by to remind me. Otherwise I wouldn't have realized until about three days in advance, and then I might not have had... Have had time."

Hagakure, intrigued, leaned in.

"Time? For what? Do you have something special planned? Huh?"

"...Well..."

Mondo stopped talking again, and he looked embarrassed. He wasn't usually so shy (except around his boyfriend, sometimes). Naegi tilted his head in confusion. Was he not sure that his plan was a good idea, or was he unsure of how to pull it off?

"Well, what is it? We came here to offer any help that we can, so you can run your plan by us if you're still unsure about it."

Mondo chuckled.

" _Help_ , huh? Lemme guess... There's a group of girls botherin' Taka right about now, and Kirigiri is sittin' in a big leather swivel chair somewhere, rubbing her hands together and reading text message reports from all of you and moving chess pieces labeled with our names around on a board?"

Naegi blinked. He was bewildered by that mental picture of Kirigiri for a moment. But as he thought on it, well... It didn't seem unlike her. He never knew where she was hiding or what she was doing when she was acting as a mastermind. That, and he didn't doubt that she knew how to play chess.

He shook his head. That wasn't important right now.

"You're probably not that far off," Naegi joked, "but, yeah, it's not too different from the last time."

"Come oooonnn," Leon pled. "Tell us! We did a pretty good job last time—"

"KIRIGIRI did a pretty good job last time," Mondo interrupted, glaring at Leon. "YOU TWO almost ruined everything. You and your fuckin' _kazoos—_ "

"We played you a _romantic ballad!_ " Leon shouted, feigning offense and putting a hand to his own chest. Hagakure nodded along, looking as unfocused as usual. Mondo could only scoff and roll his eyes.

"...Will you at least tell me?" Naegi asked quietly. "Kyouko-chan put me in charge of these two. She'll have my head on a platter if anything happens."

"Or, more importantly, you'll blow your chances with her," Mondo huffed, grinning. Naegi reddened.

"Wh-What do you—"  
  
"Anyway," Mondo continued, acting like Naegi hadn't said anything. "I... I do have an idea, but I don't know if it's... I don't know, _selfish?_ "

"Selfish?" Leon echoed. "How can a plan for his sake be selfish?"

"Th-That is..." Mondo blushed, and then he shook his head to rid himself of the expression. He leaned forward to rest his weight on his elbows, and Naegi imitated him, just to let him know that he was listening. "It'd be for him, yeah, but it's not something I can actually _give_ him. So... Other people might think it's more of a gift for me than it is for him."

"...But you've been taking your relationship really seriously. You wouldn't use your anniversary as an excuse to buy yourself something," Naegi noted. "So it must be a nice idea! ...C'mon, Oowada-kun. If you tell us, we can decide if it's a good idea or not."

Mondo contemplated his options, running a hand through the front of his hair. It had gotten longer than it was when Maizono had first cut it for him, and so he sometimes tied it back to keep it out of the way— now being one of those times. He relented and sat more casually.

"...So, Taka was pretty scared of my bike at first. He still wishes it had a seatbelt or somethin'."

"Alright," Naegi said, nodding. He wasn't sure where Mondo was going with this.

"He's not crazy about the safety of my bike, but he'll ride with me from time to time, 'specially if his dad can't take him somewhere or whatever. ...But the thing is, Chi is _terrified_ of it. She won't get on it at all."

"...Ah." Naegi frowned. "And you wish you could take them both?"

"Exactly," Mondo confirmed. "It makes Taka real sad, y'know? He really enjoys rides out in the open country, but we always have to leave Chi by herself, and he wishes she could come along. That, and he wishes the bike was safer, so that Chi and his dad would stop worrying about him. ...I was thinking... of fixing both of those issues."

"...You wanna modify your bike?" Leon asked, surprised. Mondo nodded.

"Yeah. Nothin' too crazy... I'd wanna get a sidecar to attach that's super safe, but also easy to remove and reattach. Real comfy, too, and with a safe storage space for Chi's laptop and books and things. Maybe a windshield and a seatbelt... Actually, I guess that does sound a little crazy, huh?"

"A sidecar. That's... That's cute," Naegi said, pleasantly surprised.

"Not just that. I'd wanna remove the bike's current back seat and put in somethin' more like a proper chair, with a seatbelt and headrest. Maybe even a holder of some kind for a water bottle, so Taka can take a drink when we stop at a light or whatever." Mondo had gotten somewhat excited talking about the modifications, but after a moment, he sighed in frustration. "I-I just... It's my bike, right? Aren't you supposed to get your partner somethin' pretty or whatever junk?"

"It's a great idea, man!" Hagakure insisted. "We all know Ishimaru-chi, right? He's not materialistic."

"The man has a point," Leon agreed. "He seems like the kinda guy who would cry tears of ecstasy if you gave him a fuckin' card that you made yourself and worked really hard on."

"...I can't really argue with that," Mondo replied, trying to hide his affectionate chuckle at that image.

"And I agree with both of them," Naegi added confidently. "He would absolutely _love_ that. You'd be giving him the gift of safety, and comfort, and the opportunity to spend more time doing something fun with somebody he really cares about... Plus, it'll let him know you really care! It's something that will require work— lord knows how crazy he is about hard work— and he'll know you've been listening to him."

The boys nodded and agreed with one another. Mondo's uncertainty seemed to fade.

"...So you all think it's a good plan?"

"Yeah!" Hagakure and Leon cried at once.

"...I do," Naegi said, much more quietly.

Mondo nodded, mumbling to himself in what seemed to be some kind of pep talk. He started to smile. Then, something else seemed to occur to him, and that smile faded as quickly as it had appeared.

"...There's some other issues, though."

Naegi stiffened. He'd allowed himself to get too excited about the plan.

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well..." Mondo scratched his forehead. "...I've been workin' on bikes for a long time, but it still takes a while to do modifications. And I'd want it to be somethin' customized, not just some thing I bought online. It'd take a long time and a lotta work, but I can't just stop studying. Taka would kill me. ...Or worse. He'd dump me. ...Hell, I don't even know if I could pull it off on my own in that amount of time!"

"Why is getting dumped worse than him killing you...?"

"Quiet, Hiro. ...Dude, if all ya need is some mechanical assistance, I've got ya covered. No sweat!" Leon proudly patted at the cell phone in his pocket. Mondo raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"Got me covered, huh? How so?"

"Let's just say I have a pretty decent mechanic on call. A very close friend of mine. ... And _trust me_ , he's good."

Leon continued to grin. Mondo didn't seem to know what Leon was trying to say, even though the redhead was awful at being discreet. Naegi was pretty sure he knew who Leon was talking about, but decided to keep that to himself. Leon was _trying_ to keep it a surprise.

"...Let's just trust him this once, Oowada-kun. He knows Kyouko-chan was serious about killing him if he messes this up," Naegi said. Leon shuddered, confirming the accusation. Mondo slowly accepted things, but didn't seem too relaxed.

"Alright, so that's... apparently okay. But then we move on to problem number two: _money_."

"...Ah." Naegi suddenly felt foolish.

"Yup. Machine parts and equipment don't fall outta the sky, you know. I would use my stipend, but I gotta use that to stay alive and keep my house, and I'm supportin' a few of my gang members with the extra... I can't afford to go crazy here."

"...You're supporting other people, Oowada-chi?"

Mondo reddened. It seemed he hadn't meant to let that slip. He looked down and clenched the fingers of one of his hands.

"I am. Most of 'em don't have families or regular means of income, y'know... Big bunch'a strays. Like me. I can't just let 'em starve to death. What kind of a leader would I be if I did that?"

Mondo smiled a faint and sad kind of smile. Naegi nodded very slowly. He now understood a lot more about the crazy fact that this biker thug and the school's most disciplined hall monitor had fallen in love— Mondo was, in his own way, _very_ disciplined. He was a man of great strength, and he had a strong sense of responsibility towards his underlings. That was admirable in its own way.

Naegi sighed. He had to do _something_.

"...I can get you the money."

Mondo looked up with an apprehensive expression. He shook his head.

"Y-You... You don't have to do anything crazy, Nae— Makoto. You've done more than enough for me, yeah?"

"I'm not talking about anything illegal!" Naegi blurted out, waving his arms in denial. "I just meant... I can, uh, _borrow it_. ...Or, well, he _says_ borrow, but I doubt he's actually expecting me to pay him back anytime soon."

Leon narrowed his eyes.

"...Borrow? From who?"

"I-It's not like he's short on cash! I mean, he has _millions_ , all just sitting there! He doesn't have to wait on me returning a couple hundred bucks—"

"Hold up," Mondo interrupted. He looked both alarmed and angry. "Are you talkin' about Assface McGee?"

" _Yes, Oowada-kun, I'm talking about Byakuya._ " Naegi rolled his eyes in a vain attempt to distract from his embarrassed blushing. Hagakure whistled.

"When did he let you start callin' him by his first name?" The fortune-teller asked, smirking and rolling his crystal ball around on the table.

"Seriously, man— I would think he'd hit a commoner like you in the face with a wad of cash for that," Leon muttered.

Mondo looked annoyed at the very mention of the affluent progeny. They'd never gotten along.

"I... tested the waters," Naegi admitted sheepishly. "He wasn't too happy the first few times I tried, but he seems to be fine with it now."

"Are you two _actually friends?!_ " Mondo choked in disbelief. Naegi managed a nervous chuckle and a shrug.

"Yeah. ...I think? Maybe? I'm not exactly sure what he'd call it, but, uh, he doesn't hate me. Not as much as he hates everybody else, anyway. He stopped telling me to shrivel up and blow away, like... Last year. He doesn't even call me a commoner anymore."

Hagakure screamed and covered his mouth. Naegi didn't understand why he found that frightening.

"And you can get money from him." Mondo didn't phrase it as a question. Naegi nodded again, as confidently as he could.

"Usually. I've never managed anything more than, say, three thousand dollars when it comes to actual _cash_ , but... That's actually not a lot of money as far as he's concerned. For him, that's like lending somebody twenty bucks."

"What do you mean, 'when it comes to cash'?! Has he given you something more expensive than _three grand?!_ " Leon demanded an answer, slamming a fist on the table.

Naegi looked down into his lap, squeezing his hands together and hiding his face behind his hair.

"He, uh... got me a car for my birthday...?"

The shrieks of shock and indignation were loud and simultaneous. Naegi did his best to wave them off.

"A car? A CAR?!"

"Y-Yeah... He said it wasn't a big deal because it was 'just a Toyota'. I... think he actually saw it as a pretty normal and inexpensive present. Because, I mean, it wasn't a luxury sports car. ...The guy wouldn't even let me give him a hug." Naegi frowned as he remembered the strangeness of the exchange, even if he _was_ very grateful for his main source of transportation.

Mondo let out a long sigh, like he'd just finished fighting a long battle.

"...I guess you can get some money outta that bastard, then. I mean, if he's buyin' you fuckin' cars and shit..." Mondo grinned and winked at Naegi. "What is he, your sugar daddy?"

"Wha— NO! It's nothing like that!"

Mondo barked out his harsh, raspy laugh. Hagakure and Leon joined in with him. Naegi could only chuckle, as he was still embarrassed.

After that, the conversation quickly drew to a natural close.

"So that settles it," Hagakure said as he moved to stand. He helped Leon up. "Kuwata-chi's got your mechanic, and Naegi-chi's got your money. We'll call ya when everything is ready to go, okay?"

Mondo guided his friends to his dorm room's door and stood hesitantly in the frame. He paused to think things over before he swallowed thickly and gave an uncharacteristically timid nod.

"...Yeah... We're good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I kinda like both Naegiri and Naegami, in case that wasn't obvious. LOL. In this AU, Naegi is basically the only one in the class who can communicate with Togami somewhat properly, though he at least "respects" Kirigiri and Celes for their intellect. So whenever someone in the class needs a lot of money fast, Naegi has to use his tricks to get it from Togami. It usually works.   
> So Togami would never admit it, but they are, in fact, friends. He just doesn't want to be seen with him in public. And Naegi doesn't like the way he treats people, but since he now knows his whole backstory and everything, he at least gets it and hopes that someone being nice to him can warm him up a bit.
> 
> I also totally stole the idea of Togami buying someone a car really casually because he doesn't understand how the middle class works from some text post I saw somewhere. So, credit to whoever that was.


	4. Girl Squad, Assemble!

"Aha! _There_ you are!"

Asahina called out to the hall monitor that was in the process of trying to sneak into his dorm room. He froze halfway through opening the door. Chihiro, unable to see his face, couldn't tell if it was surprise or fear that halted his movements. But, either way, he stopped. Finally, at long last, they had caught that infuriatingly speedy prefect.

Asahina stomped up beside him, wasting no time in scolding him.

"Taka-kun! We've been trying to track you down since yesterday!" She scolded, giving his shoulder a slight shove. His eyes, wide and innocent, blinked.

"Oh?" No stammer— it seemed that Kiyotaka genuinely hadn't noticed. "I do apologize! I've been very busy trying to get approval from the headmaster for a proposition of mine, and it's had me running around the building quite a bit." His eyes glistened, and he clenched his fists. "To ignore my dear friends... How could anyone ever forgive such a thing?!"

His sudden burst of emotion seemed to stun Asahina out of her anger. She fumbled for a response. Sakura chuckled at the immediate change in atmosphere.

"Th-That's— You obviously wouldn't do that on purpose, of course! It's no big deal! You don't have to cry, really!"

"...R-Really? You aren't angry?! If you are, you may strike me! Only once, though. I have to look presentable for my presentation before the financial board tomorrow morning!"

" _Taka!_ " Chihiro lightly slapped their overzealous friend on the back of the head, and that seemed to snap him back into his senses. Kiyotaka gasped in a breath, and his tears receded as quickly as they had appeared. "It's okay, really. It's just frustrating chasing you around, is all! If you're busy, it can't be helped. We have you now."

"R-Right. Of course." Kiyotaka grinned, having recomposed himself.

A little over a year ago, emotional outbursts like this had been commonplace for the prefect. He had been the sort of person who overreacted to, quite literally, _everything_. Now, after spending a couple of years picking up on social skills and developing healthy friendships, he was able to keep this mostly under control. Externally, anyway. He was still a very genuine and open person, emotionally (which wasn't a bad thing by any means— in fact, it was one of Chihiro's favorite things about Kiyotaka), but he could usually keep from having sudden fits of rage or bursting into tears without warning. He'd also learned to bite back comments that weren't appropriate for the time, and had started to loosen up a bit in regards to things like schedules and doing things simply to have fun.

The thought gave Chihiro pause. A lot of things had changed in such a short span of time. Hope's Peak seemed to have that affect on people. After all, two years ago, no one at the school had known the truth—

That Chihiro Fujisaki was a boy.

He smiled as he thought back on how remarkably understanding both Mondo and Kiyotaka had been. Chihiro had been certain, when he'd decided to tell them, that Kiyotaka would have some kind of nervous breakdown before he could accept it. And he had, to some degree— he'd cried confused tears and shouted so loudly that Chihiro had feared the entire school would unwittingly learn his secret. But Mondo had calmed him down, and then Kiyotaka had quietly asked for an explanation. Chihiro told them both why he he chosen to begin dressing in skirts, and when he told them this, they understood. And they'd sworn to help him out and keep his secret, no matter what.

They were good friends to him, those two. That day in the gym had been only six months ago, but it felt like it had been years— they'd both adjusted so comfortably to switching pronouns when appropriate, and neither one had had a slip of the tongue around the others. Chihiro had honestly expected Mondo to mess up by how. He had a habit of letting things slip that he hadn't meant to say. That, and Kiyotaka was almost incapable of lying... Even so, the secret had stayed with them, carefully guarded.

Mondo helped Chihiro work out. He didn't have a great deal of spare time to do this, but he worked as hard as he could when they did find the time. Kiyotaka was handy with first aid if Chihiro happened to pull a muscle or bruise himself, and he brewed tea that somehow soothed the muscles even after the most long and grueling of workouts. They were like best friends, and like older brothers, and, in some ways, like parents, and they were all of those things to Chihiro at once.

To other people, it might have seemed strange to go so far for a friend's anniversary. But for Chihiro Fujisaki, it was the _least_ he could do.

Chihiro shook his head to focus himself on the conversation once more. It had advanced without him, as he'd expected. The others hadn't acknowledged his quietness, save for the occasional curious glance from Sakura.

"Well... I can't chat for long, but if you wish to discuss something, you're welcome to use my dorm," Kiyotaka announced. He pushed the door open, and Asahina stormed right through it, Sakura right behind her as always. Chihiro followed only after Kiyotaka nodded at him.

Instead of sitting on the cushions on the floor, Asahina threw herself into Kiyotaka's bed. Sakura laughed under her breath as she sat on the bottom corner. Chihiro and Kiyotaka exchanged glances, shrugged, and then jumped onto the mattress together. They formed something of a circle.

"Sooooo," Asahina began. "Can you guess what we're here to talk to you about?"

Kiyotaka looked at his boots as he thought. Chihiro noted the way that he tried to keep the soles from touching his clean sheets. He'd normally remove them before getting on a bed, but with that many laces, it would likely be a hassle.

"...The anniversary? I suspected that you all might be... _involved_."

"You're sharper than your boyfriend, that's for sure," Asahina laughed. Kiyotaka frowned.

"He's not stupid."

"Well, no, he isn't. Not _really_. He's just kinda forgetful."

"...That's true." Kiyotaka scratched his cheek. "I-I do hope he hasn't forgotten—"

"Oh, he hasn't," Chihiro interrupted. "Kirigiri-chan is making sure of that much."

Kiyotaka blushed, looking immediately flustered and defensive.

"She doesn't have to go to such lengths!" he declared, his voice booming. "We are both perfectly capable of handling—"

"Yeah, yeah," Asahina giggled. She ignored the oncoming lecture. "We're helping whether you like it or not. You should just accept it by now."

Kiyotaka grumbled something under his breath, his arms folded. Chihiro could see him holding an angry outburst in. He was probably counting, just to focus his mind elsewhere.

"...I suppose certain things must be tolerated. ...I won't have any of you interfering with my plans, though," Kiyotaka replied sternly, assuming his prefect stance. Sakura perked up.

"Plans? What plans would those be?"

"Er..."

A long pause. Kiyotaka fiddled with his disciplinary committee armband.

"...You don't wanna tell us?" Asahina pouted. "Come on, spill the beans!"

"It's not that I don't _want_ to tell you," Kiyotaka corrected. "It's that I don't know whether or not I _can_. It's... I have to focus on the project, and I'm afraid I can't even give you many details about that. The only one who can truly help me with this is Kirigiri-chan. If you want to help, tell her to continue dropping hints to her father."

Sakura nodded slowly, while her two companions looked lost.

"...I... see. They must be tied together in some indirect way, yes? Regardless, you do not have the time to plan anything in this current state. The sooner you have concluded your work on this project, the sooner you can begin work on the anniversary surprise."

"S-Something like that," Kiyotaka agreed. Asahina hummed.

"Well, isn't there anything we can do to help with the project?! You don't even have to tell us what it is yet!"

Kiyotaka paused again. His brows knit themselves together, and for a moment he looked like his old self, like the Kiyotaka that couldn't relax no matter how hard he tried.

"...I suppose there's _something_ you could do—"

"Tell us!" Chihiro squeaked, balling up his fists. Kiyotaka tried to hide his slight smile.

The trio stared at him, waiting for him to arrive at a decision.

"Alright," he relented. Asahina let out a loud whoop. Her friends were more subtle.

"Hina-chan, Oogami-chan. I won't need your help for a while, but when I do get my, er, _present_ in order, I could use your assistance with... _Presentation_ , I suppose."

"Presentation...? You mean wrapping it up?" Asahina asked, her blue eyes wide and alert. Kiyotaka made a strange gesture, something between a shrug and a desperate grasp for words.

"...Well, yes, there's that. Wrapping it will be... _complicated_. That, and I don't want to simply walk up to him and hand it to him. I want to do something clever. It's a surprise, after all..."

Now feeling that she understood, Asahina nodded excitedly. She nudged Sakura and forced her to nod along.

"I get it! If you can't tell us yet, I guess it really can't be helped, but we'll totally come through when the time comes!"

Kiyotaka flashed a sweet, grateful smile. It was a smile that was exclusively his, and one usually reserved for Mondo. Every time he showed it off, the recipient usually felt the strange urge to give him a hug. Asahina managed to resist this time.

"Now, Chi," Kiyotaka continued. Chihiro perked up to show that he was still listening and nervously played with the end of his skirt. "I could use your help with something else, but we should probably talk about it privately."

"We understand," Sakura said calmly. She patted Asahina's head, almost like she'd sensed the exaggerated pout that the swimmer had donned. "If you must discuss something amongst yourselves, we shall take our leave. Let's go, Aoi."

"Awww, alright," Asahina relented. She had huffed like she was annoyed, but hadn't put up much of a fight. Kiyotaka knew from experience that when Asahina _really_ meant it, almost nothing could make her budge. She was similar to a particular biker in that way. "But I'm only leaving on one condition."

"What's that, Hina-chan?"

Asahina pouted again and spread her arms wide, clearly expecting something.

"Gimme a hug."

"...I don't know about—"

" _Taka_." Chihiro narrowed his eyes at the prefect, who gulped.

Kiyotaka sighed heavily, but smiled anyway as he quickly leaned forward to hug his friend. His attempt to escape it as quickly as he could was easily thwarted by Asahina's grip, and she got in one good, tight squeeze before she released him. Once she decided that she was satisfied, she hopped off of the mattress, as cheery as ever, and shouted over her shoulder as she ran out the door behind Sakura— "don't forget to call us when you need help!"

As soon as the door had closed, a moment of quiet passed, almost like a stunned silence. Aoi carried such a tangible force of personality that the atmosphere always had to take its time to adjust.

"...Why are you still so squeamish about hugging people sometimes?" Chihiro asked. Kiyotaka flinched and scratched the back of his neck. It was a tell of his that he was embarrassed to say something.

"I-It's not that I don't enjoy the affection, or that I don't like her, I just... Don't want to do it wrong...?"

"How can you possibly hug somebody wrong?! ...You've really gotta loosen up sometimes, Taka. You don't have to be the best at _everything_."

Kiyotaka laughed, donning a knowing smile. He'd heard that one a thousand times, Chihiro was sure. He was also sure that Kiyotaka had mentally finished that thought with 'but I do have to TRY my very best'.

"I know... I know." When he'd recovered from his embarrassment, Kiyotaka puffed out his chest and spoke in a clear voice once more. "Anyway, with those two out of the way, I... would like to let you in on a little secret."

"I wanna know what I'm doing before you tell me the secret," Chihiro replied, being as honest as he could. "I-I don't want to agree to something just to let you down. I want to repay you and Mondo for all you've done for me."

Kiyotaka clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times— your companionship is all the payment we will ever need!"

"A-And I know that you mean that, Taka. You... never lie, really." Chihiro was furiously blushing now. Kiyotaka could be stubborn and a bit of a spoilsport at times, but his kindness was always so genuine that it couldn't be doubted. Not one bit. "But... It's not that I feel I _have_ to repay you. It's just that I _want_ to. And you'll let me do that if it's important to me, won't you?"

Kiyotaka studied his teary-eyed friend for a moment before he gave a slow nod.

"Of course. ...It's not as if I can stop you, anyway! You are surprisingly hard-headed for someone so small! Ha ha ha!"

"J-Just— Just fill me in already!" Chihiro begged. He wasn't about to admit to Kiyotaka's accusations. He took a moment to wipe at his eyes. "Tell me what kind of thing I'll have to do to make this work."

"...Alright, then." Kiyotaka stopped laughing and returned to being serious and studious. He held up a single finger. "One— you would have to do a great deal of research on local businesses. Animal shelters, breeders, and rescues, to be more exact."

Chihiro quirked an eyebrow.

"...Okay... And is there a two?"  
  
"Yes— Two!" A second finger. "You would have to write reports on the best businesses, and likely contact them for further information. I would then use those reports for the budget council and disciplinary committee meetings."

"...And what about number three—"

"You would not be doing all of this alone, of course! I would not arbitrarily assign my own work to an underling! I have compiled a large list of places, but the work would pass by much more quickly if I had an assistant, especially since I'm not very good with computers. It shames me to admit it, but my typing is woefully slow."

"It really is," Chihiro recalled, scrunching up his nose. "How can someone your age type so slow, anyway? Didn't we all grow up with computers?"

Kiyotaka's bright and professional grin flickered.

"...I did not," he reminded his friend. "Computers are... very expensive."

"Ah! Of course they are. I'm sorry, I... f-forgot." Chihiro looked guiltily at the headboard, away from his friend's eyes. _Of course_ Kiyotaka didn't have a computer at home. The boy hadn't so much as bought a new pair of shoes in years.

Kiyotaka, however, wasn't offended. He shrugged.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of! If I ever need the use of a computer, I can always simply walk to my local library. And Hope's Peak provides plenty of them. Problem solved!" Kiyotaka laughed. Chihiro forced an awkward chuckle.

"Okay, then... Is there a number three on that list of tasks?"

"Er, no," Kiyotaka admitted. "It's only those two things. Were you expecting a longer list?"

"Sort of..."

"Well, it's only those two. But each task is quite involved, I assure you."

"It can't be _that_ bad," Chihiro giggled. "I mean, how many shelters and rescues can there possibly be in..."

Chihiro trailed off when Kiyotaka's expression turned grim. Wordlessly, he pointed at the table. Chihiro followed the path of his finger, and then he gasped, feeling the color drain from his face.

The tabletop was _covered_ in stacks of paper— printouts, flyers, and even the occasional phone book or directory. Chihiro hadn't seen a phone book in quite some time, he realized.

"I-Is all of that just the businesses?!" Chihiro squawked.

"Not _all_ of it. There are also my budget guidelines, notes from the headmaster, and some other technical things—"

"Has your job always been this complicated?!"

Kiyotaka's cheeks reddened, and he furrowed his brow. He looked embarrassed, and Chihiro didn't know why.

"It's not always so bad. For the most part, I just enforce the rules that already exist. B-But if I want a student to be exempted from a rule or allowed a special hearing in front of the committee, or if I want to propose some kind of rule or policy change... It can get rather involved. Normally I'd be allowed to work through this at my own pace, but with the current situation, I'm on a bit of a tight schedule," Kiyotaka explained.

Chihiro sighed. Kiyotaka blinked at him, waiting for his answer.

Kiyotaka worked too hard, and he always had. It worried Chihiro, and he knew it worried Mondo and the others as well. But Kiyotaka's work ethic was central to his being, to his character. It was close to his heart, and it was what made him so strong and so effective.

If he needed help— if he was _asking for help with his work_ for once in his life— Chihiro was all too eager to give it.

"Alright!" Chihiro chirped. "I'll help. We can get through this much faster as a team!"

Kiyotaka smiled, almost falling forward in his relief. Then, he scooted forward slightly and lowered his voice to a near-whisper. It was pointless, really, since there was no one else in the soundproofed room, but Chihiro would let him have his moment.

"Glad to have you on board. So, here's what I was thinking..."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course, the girl squad returns. Maizono and Kirigiri weren't with them this time because they had other things to do— they didn't catch him that first night when they all left Kirigiri's dorm.
> 
> In the first part of this story, I used female pronouns for Chihiro and everyone thought he was a girl (including the narrator). This time around, Chihiro has finally pulled his friends aside and told them the truth. He figured they would both be okay with it because they'd already been a couple at that point, which ended up being largely true— if Mondo, who already knew how to calm him, hadn't been there, poor Taka's head probably would have exploded!


	5. Step One Complete

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas, everybody! Here's my gift to you!

Kiyotaka held his breath as Jin Kirigiri, standing and leaning against his desk, looked through a stack of paperwork. Chihiro tried to peer at his expression from his position beside the principal, but his height barred him from doing so.

In the chairs in front of the desk, two of Kiyotaka's female classmates waited for Jin to say something. One fidgeted nervously, while the other calmly sipped from a teacup, as expressionless as ever.

Chihiro had worked with Kiyotaka, over the last few days, on researching all of the local breeders and shelters and rescues. They'd narrowed the list down to a few good options, but had found one in particular that looked especially promising. Chihiro had gone to the lengths of getting an endorsement from one of last year's graduates by calling him up. Since said upperclassman was an expert on animals and cared a great deal about their well-being, his approval was likely to go a long way.

"Tanaka-san says he wants to go look at the place himself and write an entry about it for his blog," Chihiro said. Jin hadn't said anything in several minutes. "He thinks that it looks like a wonderful organization."

Jin nodded and set the papers down on his desk, thoughtfully stroking his chin.

"Fukawa-san."

The bespectacled girl stiffened and tugged on one of her braids.

"Y-Yes?"

"You're sure that you want to participate in this program?"

"O-Obviously," Fukawa stammered. "I-I wouldn't have filled out that stupid questionnaire if I d-didn't want to."

"Of course, of course," Jin laughed. "I should have gathered as much, seeing as you're not the sociable type. What about you, Miss Ludenberg?"

Celestia set down her teacup and smiled, that menacing and glassy smile of hers that didn't quite reach her crimson eyes. She didn't comment on the principal's use of _miss_ rather than a Japanese honorific, but that was probably because it suited her European aesthetic.

"I'm not particularly interested in _adopting_ a pet," she explained, "but I was forced to leave my darling kitty at home when I agreed to attend this academy. I've missed him, and I would love to have the chance to introduce him to my classmates, even if the year is drawing to a close."

"I see. I suppose arrangements could be made to allow students to bring over existing pets, so long as they've been trained."

"And I can assure you that he is quite well-behaved," Celestia agreed with a dainty laugh.

Kiyotaka looked at Fukawa, who had switched from pulling on her hair to biting at her nails.

"A-And what about you, Fukawa-san?" he prodded. "Didn't you want to adopt a cat?"

"...Y-Yes," the bookworm admitted. "M-My dorm room gets... l-lonely. A cat might be n-nice. They don't need as much a-attention as a dog."

"We compiled a list of interested students, all of whom agreed to discretion, and had them fill out our survey and application forms," Chihiro announced, beaming proudly. "So far we have over a dozen interested parties! Fukawa-san and Ludenberg-san agreed to come with us because they're very excited about the possibility."

"And the rescue looks like a nice place, yes? We'd want to tour it in person, of course, but using _Happy Tails_ would allow us to secure puppies and kittens without having to use a shop. A large part of their rescue program is taking in pregnant animals, or rescuing puppies from mills," Kiyotaka added.

Jin nodded along. After another long pause, he straightened his back in a way that suggested having reaching a decision.

"Alright," he said. Kiyotaka and Chihiro perked up. "I'll give the owner a call. In the meantime, you should follow up with the interested students. We'll let the disciplinary committee pick the best candidates."

"And I'll give Tanaka-san another call!" Chihiro exclaimed. "He can read animal souls or something, right? He can use the bios we made of the interested students and their questionnaire answers to find the pet that's right for them!"

"A wonderful idea, Chi!" Kiyotaka laughed and patted his friend's back before turning back to the principal. "I-I don't mean to be presumptuous, of course, sir, but... Does this mean that I have your full approval?!"

Jin laughed, just once, before he nodded.

"It does." Kiyotaka and his friends let out a series of cheers. " _But_ don't get ahead of yourselves too quickly! I still have to let some of the board members know of my decision, and you shouldn't visit the shelter until I've secured things with the owner on my end. ...I'll call you to my office again when it's all ready."

Kiyotaka took the headmaster's hand and gave it a firm shake with both of his.

"You won't regret this, headmaster Kirigiri! We won't let you down! I'm sure there are many parties that will be delighted to hear the news, but I'll keep it to myself for now. Farewell!"

The prefect, clearly in a rush, snatched up his own folder before he bolted out the door. It took his friends a moment too long to respond.

"I simply can't wait to see my darling boy again," Celestia remarked as the group made its way down the hall. "He's... a little temperamental, yes. He's terribly spoiled. But I've missed him anyway."

"All in a day's work," Chihiro laughed. "I'm sure everybody who loves their pet spoils them at least a little bit."

Before Fukawa could comment, another person rounded a corner and quickly approached as soon as her eyes had caught sight of Kiyotaka.

"Ishimaru-kun. I take it you got your approval?" Kirigiri asked. Kiyotaka nodded proudly, clasping the girl's hand in the same way that he had her father's only minutes earlier.

" _We_ certainly did! I couldn't have done so without you or Chi, though, so no more of this 'I' nonsense. It was a team effort!"

Kirigiri smiled.

"Of course. ...Anyway, my father said something about surveying the interested students... How did you manage to...?" The detective raised an eyebrow, hoping Kiyotaka would pick up on the meaning behind her words. He winked, indicating that he had.

"I was discreet. Most of the eligible students received a very detailed interest form with an attached explanatory notice, but one person may or may not have received a more vague survey casually thrown in with their school newsletter. ...A newsletter that later disappeared. _Mysteriously_."

He winked again. He wasn't very good at being subtle, which worried Kirigiri a bit, but it seemed that the target truly hadn't noticed anything suspicious. Maybe said biker was just oblivious. 

"The boys are up to something, by the way," she said under her breath as she moved to stand beside Kiyotaka. Celestia and Fukawa took the hint and went their separate ways, offering quick nods to the suddenly secretive trio in lieu of proper goodbyes. "Naegi-kun has been doing an awful lot of schmoozing around Togami-kun lately, which leads me to be believe that he wants money. And a lot of it."

"I can't imagine that Mondo would want to buy you jewelry or anything," Chihiro thought aloud, "so what on earth could he need so much money for? I hope he knows it's the thought that counts."

"Based on our first date, I'd say he does," Kiyotaka chuckled, a dreamy note in his voice as he recalled that night. Chihiro nudged him.

"What _did_ happen that night, anyway? You never told me!"

Kiyotaka laughed brightly at that. He told the girls all about it as he approached his dorm room, and Kirigiri listened intently despite having already heard it from Mondo. She was happy to learn that the biker hadn't fudged any details in his version. If anything, he'd been modest.

The trio parted ways, and Kiyotaka had had every intention of going straight into his dorm room to get some studying done before bed. Instead, he heard someone call his name in a whisper.

"Psst! Taka-kun! I need to talk to you!"

Asahina ran down the hall as quietly as she could, and then she practically shoved him into his room, looking around as she did so to make sure that they weren't being watched or followed. She locked the door behind them.

"A— Asahina-chan! People will get the wrong idea!"

Asahina snorted.

"Oh, please. Everybody knows that you'd never cheat on Mondo-kun. And that you're super gay."

"...I don't know if I'm _super_ —"

"That's not the point! I just... I just wanted to talk to you where nobody can eavesdrop, okay?"

Asahina wasted no time in hopping onto Kiyotaka's bed. He wondered, sometimes, if she was this casual with everybody. He joined her on the mattress.

"Well? What is it? Are you failing chemistry again?"

To Kiyotaka's relief, Asahina laughed. She'd seemed a bit wound up.

"No, nothing like that. Um... Okay, first of all, I wanted to know if your little thingy went well. Can't you tell me what it is yet?!"

"W-Well, headmaster Kirigiri does want me to keep my mouth shut for at least another couple of days, but we got the go-ahead. I'll need your help soon enough!" He patted his friend's hand. "You'll love it, I'm sure. I do wish that I could tell you, but I am a man of my word, if nothing else."

Something in Asahina's smile changed. Something that made it look nervous.

"...You _are_ a man of your word. Which is exactly why I wanted to talk to you. If I tell you something in secret, can you promise me that you'll keep it to yourself?"

"O-Of course!" Kiyotaka laid down and then moved closer to her, close enough that they were lying side by side, their heads on the pillows. "I won't tell a soul if you ask me not to."

"Not even Fujisaki-chan? Or Mondo-kun?"

"...Not even them." Kiyotaka grinned and pounded his chest with a fist. "Man's honor!" He added this in a low and somewhat gravelly voice that sounded like someone else's. It wasn't a bad imitation, which made Asahina laugh. Mondo's impression of Kiyotaka was better, though.

When her laughter faded away, Asahina stared at the ceiling, feeling her stomach twist in nervous knots. Had Kiyotaka felt this way before? He probably had.

"So..." She thought of how best to phrase this particular admission. "...How do you know if what you're feeling for somebody is love, or a crush, and not just friendship?"

Kiyotaka blushed.

"I-I'm not the best person to ask about matters of romance! Even if I am in a relationship. You all had to help me, remember? Because I don't know much about it?"

"That's true..." Asahina hummed. "Maybe you're not exactly an expert, but you _are_ going out with somebody who used to be your friend—"

"He's still my friend, you know."

Asahina seemed to flinch at that and looked timidly at the prefect. A shy expression was unusual for her.

"...Yeah?" She asked. Kiyotaka nodded.

"Yes. I think... I think that if you stop being friends, your relationship probably won't last very long. Not as long as it could, anyway."

"What makes you say that?"

"W-Well... Life isn't like a movie, yes? You're not going to have intense butterflies and a wild attraction for the rest of your life— at least not every single day. Sometimes people get frustrated with one another, or they're going through a rough time, and sometimes things are boring. But if you're also good friends, you can withstand that. Because you can simply enjoy one another's company. A lifetime partner should be a good companion. I think it's important."

"...And that's... why you guys can be together so often? Without getting sick of each other? ...Because you don't always expect it to be some big romantic thing?"

"Precisely! We still have the same running gags. And sometimes we just sit down and watch a movie or talk about school."

"...I guess that makes sense. ...You still haven't answered my question, though."

"Ah. Right." Kiyotaka furrowed his brow in concentration, which looked a bit strange when the only thing before his eyes was a blank ceiling rather than a test or a homework sheet. "It's, uh... hard to explain..."

"Can't you at least try?!" The desperation in her voice surprised Kiyotaka.

"A-Alright! Er... Well, it was hard for me at first, too. Determining whether I _liked_ Mondo or not, that is. I had to think about it a lot. Eh... Try imagining how you'd feel if you could never see this person again. That might help."

"I... It would make me really sad," Asahina admitted, "but I'd feel the same way if I couldn't see you anymore. So I'm not sure if that helps any."

"I suppose that's true," Kiyotaka replied. "Then... Hmm... Oh! I know!" Asahina's eyes widened. "I remember something I did that helped me determine how I felt."

"Then tell me!"

"Close your eyes."

"Why?!"

"It will help! I promise!"

Asahina frowned at him for a moment, but sighed and capitulated to his request. She settled more comfortably into the pillows, crossed her arms, and screwed her eyes shut.

"Okay, they're closed. Now what?"

"So... imagine that you're at your locker, getting ready for class."

"Alright."

"Now imagine the person you're thinking of. This friend of yours. Imagine that person walking up to you."

"...Okay."

"Now, try really hard to picture it clearly, okay? ...Imagine your friend telling you that they have a crush on you and asking you if you want to do something after school. A date. Imagine them asking you out. Maybe they're blushing as they ask you, or look a little nervous."

Asahina took several long seconds to respond.

"...And... And then...?"

"What do you want to say? In this scenario. Really think about it."

Asahina fidgeted. Kiyotaka smiled when he saw a dash of color appear across her cheeks. He suspected that she had found her answer.

"I... I wanna say yes. I wanna say that I'll go. I... feel really happy."

"...So does that answer your question?"

"I-I think so. I _hope_ so." Asahina's eyes opened. She still looked nervous, but she seemed less confused. This, at least, was a slight comfort. She looked at Kiyotaka. "You did this? You imagined the same thing?"

Kiyotaka laughed, embarrassed.

"I did. When I imagined it really clearly, I... Well, I cried, actually. So _that_ didn't leave me a whole lot of room for excuses."

She laughed and made some kind of _awww_ sound at the same time.

" _God_ , you're... You're just too friggin' adorable, Taka-kun."

"...Thanks? I think?"

Asahina sat up, crossing her legs and facing her friend.

"Thanks for the help. Really. I... think I've figured things out now. I mean, it's still scary, but... It's better to at least know, right?"

Kiyotaka imitated her pose.

"I think so. And, hey, it does not have to be a marriage proposal! You can always take your time. Try being casual! Just ask him if he would like to go and get a cup of coffee with you."

"It's not—" Asahina started to say something, but stopped. Her cheeks turned bright red, and she looked uncomfortably down at her hands, which she wrung together in her lap. Kiyotaka tilted his head.

"It's not what? ...I promised that I wouldn't tell anybody else, remember?"

"...Really?"

"Really."

Asahina thought, and for an awfully long minute. Kiyotaka didn't say anything during this time. He allowed her to sort out her thoughts. Finally, she took a deep breath, keeping her eyes focused on her fingernails.

"My... My friend? It's... Not a boy. They're actually a girl."

Kiyotaka didn't react right away. He was silent as he processed what Asahina said, and then as he further processed the exact implication of her words. When it hit him, he gasped in a comically exaggerated way.

"R...Really?! You too?!"

He'd thought that Asahina's face couldn't possibly get any more red. He'd been wrong. The color darkened until it completed concealed her usual sun-kissed glow. She waved her hands in front of her.

"N-No, not exactly! I'm not a lesbian, okay?! I-I usually like guys! That's why this has been so confusing for me! At least you've always _known_ you were gay— you've never had any interest in girls, right?!"

"Well, no... B-But it's not like that makes it easy! I... For a while, I had myself convinced that I just hadn't found the right girl! These things are _never_ easy!"

Asahina frowned thoughtfully.

"I guess you're right. ...Man, they just don't make an instructional packet, do they?"

Kiyotaka chuckled.

"Life is never so simple, unfortunately. B-But people are coming around, right? Who knows— maybe Mondo and I will be able to get married someday soon."

The swimmer smiled tenderly.

"Maybe. I sure hope so."

There was a tense moment. It quickly passed, and then Asahina made an affectionate sound and pulled her friend into a hug.

"Thank you," she murmured against his shoulder. "You're always there for me. And I really appreciate it. If you ever need anything— and I do mean _anything_ — just... Lemme know, okay?"

"Th-That really isn't necessary, but... Okay."

She held onto him for longer than was necessary. It was slightly awkward on Kiyotaka's end, as her breasts pressed uncomfortably against his chest. Not that he was especially concerned with that. Not in the typical way, anyway. ...Maybe he really was "super gay", he thought. He got so sidetracked by that train of thought ( _Is it okay, then, for me to ask questions about breasts? Are they heavy? Do they ever get sore or bothersome?_ ) that he didn't notice Asahina releasing him right away. She wiped a tear from the corner of one eye.

"I'm... gonna head back to my dorm, then. You get a good night's sleep, alright? You're gonna need it. You've been working even harder than usual lately!"

Kiyotaka laughed her off, but did give her a nod as he ushered her out the door. He locked it behind her and turned to rest his back against it, releasing a long breath. He checked his phone before moving.

_Mondo: srry i couldn't swing by ur dorm 2nite. had 2 study for exams and didn't wanna get distracted. i'll c u 1st thing in the morning, k? have sweet dreams (about me) <3_

Kiyotaka chuckled.

_Taka <3 <3 <3: Will do! You've been doing a great job on your exams lately. I'm very proud of you. Keep up the good work!_

He let out a contented sigh as he pressed send and shoved the phone back into his pocket.

_We really are growing up, aren't we?_

Kiyotaka smiled at the thought before he changed into his pajamas, turned off the overhead light, and fell into a deep, restful sleep.


	6. Greased Lightning

Mondo paced the floor of his kitchen, his foot occasionally catching on the loose bit of laminate that stuck up from one corner. He'd have to learn how to glue it back down later. Or maybe he should really get around to fixing the place up, he thought, and try replacing it with some proper tiles. Either way, that wasn't important right now.

Several of his friends were supposed to stop by. Naegi had already managed to get the money from Togami, and he'd already given it to Leon, who was supposed to give it to his "mystery" mechanic. He was waiting on the three of them and the equipment they'd need, and they'd probably bring Hagakure along.

He wasn't sure why he was so anxious about it. It may simply have been that he'd never had people over at his house before— not anyone that wasn't in his gang, anyway. Takemichi had camped out on his couch a few times out of necessity, but more often than not, the house was empty, especially now that Mondo spent most of his time at Hope's Peak.

Mondo had called Kiyotaka to ask for advice, but had told him it was for a study session. And the prefect, as oblivious as ever, had suggested leaving out snacks. He'd followed the advice, though, and so there was now a huge assortment of snacks on the counter. It wasn't a very pretty display. He was a biker, not fuckin' Martha Stewart.

Mondo had to hold in his sigh of relief when he heard the doorbell ring— ten more minutes of nervous pacing and he might have lost his mind. As he'd expected, Naegi was the first to arrive. He hadn't, however, expected Naegi to be the one to bring Hagakure along.

"Hey, Makoto. Hiro. Since when do you two travel together?"

"Hi, Oowada-kun! I'm babysitting him for Kuwata-kun," Naegi admitted. "He's checking in with his mystery mechanic. So he dumped Hagakure-kun on me."

 _How long will it take this guy to drop the honorifics? Aren't we past that by now?_ Mondo wondered. But then again, his own boyfriend addressed everyone with honorifics with the exception of himself and Chihiro. Mondo stepped aside and made space in the doorframe for his visitors to pass through. Naegi gave a polite little bow before he did so.

"I didn't think you had a _house_ ," Naegi observed as he looked around. "Especially since it's... You know. Just you."

"Yeah, well, my brother bought it for us. It's a crash pad for the whole gang, really. It's the cheapest place in town, and that's saying a lot for this neighborhood. He worked on bikes and cars, saved up some cash, got the place after it was foreclosed on..." Mondo looked fondly at the crooked light fixture above the island. "I could always just get some apartment somewhere or live in one of the men's shelters, but I haven't had the heart to let this place go."

Naegi gave him a sad smile as he took a seat. There wasn't a kitchen table— just a couple of barstools pulled up to the island.

"That's pretty admirable. Or at least, I think it is. Do you pay the mortgage with just your stipend?"

"More or less. But I do basic mechanic shit and odd jobs, too, just for extra cash. Nobody in this town seems to know how to fix their cars, so I've always got plenty of customers. ...Mostly people's grandmas."

Naegi suppressed a laugh. The image of a little old lady knocking on Mondo's door at eight in the morning because her check engine light was on again, and then giving him twenty dollars and a cornbread muffin when he was finished with it, was strangely adorable. Maybe he even mowed lawns and helped people move from time to time.

"I think your house is... charming!" Hagakure blurted out. Mondo scoffed.

"Yeah, _charming_ is just a code word for ugly... But thanks, _I guess_. I've been meaning to fix the place up, but I never get around to it... between school and managin' the gang and all."

"I'm sure you could get some of the class to help out," Naegi suggested. "The gang, too. They'd at least be good at demolition."

Mondo laughed.

"Yeah, probably. We're pretty good at breakin' shit."

The doorbell rang again. Mondo left Naegi and Hagakure in the kitchen and rushed down the hall.

"Leon," he said simply as soon as he had the door open. "Where's your mechanic?"

"Late, as usual," Leon laughed. "But don't worry. He's coming. And he's got all the stuff. He says he got a great deal on it, so he can actually give you some of your money back."

"I won't argue with that. Come on in! Makoto and Hiro are already here."

Leon settled in comfortably and ate most of the cookies, and at least thirty minutes passed. Just as Mondo started to wonder if their mechanic had bailed, there was another ring of the doorbell. Leon followed him as he walked down the hall.

"Hurry up!" A familiar voice cried. "I can't carry all of this in by myself!"

Mondo stopped and turned to stare at Leon. Leon grinned.

"I should've expected as much," Mondo laughed as he opened the front door again.

He was greeted by the sight of a guy in a jumpsuit and beanie, one with bright pink hair and eyes. He had a wagon full of supplies with him and what appeared to be a wad of cash in his pocket.

"Souda-kun." Mondo did his best to sound polite and reached out for a handshake. The mechanic in question shoved it away and instead offered a fist.

"Y'don't have to be so formal, man! Just Kazuichi is fine."

"I guess you're right. Kazuichi, then— thanks for stoppin' by."

Leon gave his friend a quick bump on the fist before taking the toolbox that Kazuichi had under his arm. Once he'd been relieved of the burden, the pink-haired man seemed to remember something.

"Oh! ...Uh, just so you know, I didn't plan to come alone! We're waiting on one more person."

"Really? ...Who else are we expecting?" Mondo asked, his curiosity piqued.

Kazuichi assumed his usual carefree stance, the one where he folded his arms behind his head. Mondo wasn't sure how he found that so comfortable.

"Leon said that the girls are planning stuff, too, sooooo I called up a lady friend of Ishimaru's to ask if she knows anything... She thinks it might turn into a competition at this rate. So if we're all gonna be workin' on the bike together, we need somebody guardin' the place, right?!"

The mechanic said this proudly, like it was an idea he'd put a lot of thought into. Mondo nodded slowly. It _did_ make sense to have someone keep an eye on the street for snoops like Asahina, but couldn't Naegi or one of the others do that? Mondo suspected that Kazuichi had simply wanted an excuse to invite another person.

"...Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for, uh... That. For thinking of me. I guess." Mondo elbowed Leon. "Who else did he invite?!" he whispered. Leon shrugged.

"Oh, did he invite somebody else?"

"He _just_ said that."

"Oh? Didn't hear it. Anyway, I've got no idea!"

_You are the worst fuckin’ liar, Kuwata._

"Anyway, he'll be here _very_ soon. Until then, we'll get everything set up!" Kazuichi pushed past Mondo and made his way into the house. Mondo rolled his eyes. He'd forgotten that Kazuichi was the kind of guy who would invite himself in.

"...Go straight down the hall. The little mudroom off of the kitchen— the door there leads to the garage. You can, uh, take a soda from the fridge or a snack from the counter if you want to," Mondo called after him.

Kazuichi stopped in the kitchen to talk to Naegi and Hagakure, who were still standing around the counter and enjoying their snacks. Leon and Mondo joined them.

"This is a really nice place," Kazuichi said, biting into a sandwich (with those weird shark teeth of his) that he'd made from crackers and pepperoni. Mondo's eyebrows raised.

"...Ya think so, huh? It's pretty small. Old, too. Was the only place my brother could afford."

"Is it small?" Kazuichi asked, glancing at Leon. Leon nodded, looking strangely embarrassed. Kazuichi shrugged. "Guess I wouldn't know. It's about the same size as my place, and it's in much better condition. ...My house is set up kind of the same way. Mostly garage."

"Yeah, we were more interested in a place to keep the bikes than in bedrooms with breakfast nooks or balconies or anything like that," Mondo explained, laughing sheepishly. He'd forgotten that Kazuichi's family was even poorer than his. If that was even possible.

"But anyway, I actually have a lot of experience with motorcycles," Kazuichi bragged. "You should see my bike at home! It's so fast that it's not even street-legal!"

Mondo whistled.

"Really?! How fast are we talkin'—"

Suddenly, before he could finish the question, there was a pounding and insistent knock on the front door, almost like someone had repeatedly kicked it with the side of their foot instead of using their knuckles. Mondo jumped.

"The hell is that...?!"

He began to storm down the hallway. What kind of person kicked a door instead of using the bell? Before he reached it, he heard a familiar voice, _very loud_ , come from the other side of the door.

"Open up, will ya?! Keep me waitin' in this goddamn cold... Fuckin' bosozoku bastard!"

Mondo stopped for a second, stunned into silence, before he started laughing uproariously. He threw the door open a little too enthusiastically.

" _You fuckin' yakuza scum—_ who the hell invited your scrawny ass?! ...Come here, you son of a bitch!"

He pulled the shorter man, also laughing, into a bear hug. The yakuza slapped him on the back, hard, a couple of times. He always did that— "I may let you hug me, but I can still kick your ass any day of the week". That was probably the kind of message he was trying to send.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu had hated Mondo, initially. Peko had always said that it was because they were, quite simply, too similar. They'd nearly come to blows every time they passed one another in the halls. But then Peko and Kiyotaka had met in a kendo class and become good friends, forcing the two to swallow their pride and learn to tolerate one another. Once that was out of the way, they'd realized they had a great deal in common and developed a fast friendship of their own.

It was funny, really. Mondo always seemed to start out hating the people who would become the most important figures in his life. He'd punched Naegi in the face the second time they crossed paths. He'd called Kirigiri a know-it-all bitch once. He'd thrown Leon through a window ( _it was the first floor and he was fine, alright?_ ), told Chihiro to toughen up. Most striking of all, he'd hated Kiyotaka once. Now, he couldn't imagine a life without any of those people. And Fuyuhiko was included in this. His brotherhood meant more to him than he felt he could possibly express, and he'd missed having him around the school an awful lot.

But that didn't matter. He was here now, casually strolling through his home.

"Didja hear the wind out there? Came outta nowhere. It's fuckin' crazy. I thought I was a goner for a minute there," Fuyuhiko rambled as he reached the kitchen. Naegi was the only one surprised to see him. After giving the luckster a nod, Fuyuhiko turned to Mondo and smirked. "What, not gonna offer me any food? Is that how it is?"

"Take whatever you want, man," Mondo laughed. "What the hell have you been up to lately?"

Fuyuhiko chewed on a cookie before responding. He'd always had a very demanding sweet tooth.

"Well, my old man is fixin' to retire soon. I've been learning the ins and outs of the business. Peko's been brushing up on her swordsmanship, too. ...Not that she really has anything to learn, but you know how she is."

Kazuichi shuddered. Fuyuhiko talked about his "family business" so casually that anyone listening would think he was talking about a hardware store, and not about the largest organized criminal syndicate in the country.

The group of six spent about ten minutes catching up and reminiscing about old times before Kazuichi suggested getting started. He'd set his tools down on the coffee table and the living room floor rather than putting them in the garage, so Mondo and the others helped him pick everything up. Kazuichi was so eager to get started that he threw his armful of things down rather quickly and moved to look over the bike (after removing the dust-cloth that Mondo had thrown over it).

"Not bad!" Kazuichi whistled. "This is a pretty sweet ride you've got!" He knelt down beside the bike and started inspecting the sides of it, and the others slowly set down their tools and supplies and moved around the garage in search of seating. Mondo snorted.

"I'm in charge of a biker gang. What were you expecting?!"

Kazuichi only shrugged, indicating that he hadn't meant much by the comment.

"Aren't Kawasaki bikes a little hard to handle, though?" he thought aloud. Mondo flashed a proud grin.

"Not for _me_ , they're not."

Naegi chuckled and rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Let's see what we've got here," the mechanic mumbled to himself. He was quickly lost in thought as he tinkered around. Even Mondo, the owner of said bike, couldn't quite tell what he was doing, but Hope's Peak didn't hand out _Ultimate_ titles for nothing.

In the meantime, Mondo glanced up, curious as to what the others were doing. Naegi had brought in the snack platters and set them on an empty little work table, and Hagakure lounged in a folding lawn chair and yawned. Leon was in the process of setting up a second chair for himself. Fuyuhiko, for some reason, was glaring at the garage door.

"You alright over there?" Mondo asked. Fuyuhiko scoffed and pointed at the door with his thumb.

"And exactly how the fuck am I supposed to keep watch?!"

Mondo stared, trying to figure out what he was talking about. And then it hit him. Fuyuhiko, on account of his _stature_ , couldn't see through the garage door's windows. He tried not to laugh— he didn't have any intention of dying before reaching his anniversary.

"Here," Naegi said with too much forced enthusiasm, "use this!" He pushed an empty wooden crate in Fuyhiko's direction. The blonde frowned as he studied it, and then he shrugged and flipped it over. It made an adequate stool and allowed him to see the street.

"...I was expecting this place to be dusty," Fuyuhiko grumbled. "It's why I didn't wear one of my suits."

"Most people just use their garages for storage. I spend a lot of time in here, so I   
keep it clean. ...I was tellin' Makoto earlier that I fix cars and shit for extra money. If it's working well enough, I have 'em pull it in here. It's also where my gang members bring their bikes if we're gonna hang out, or if we need to lay low for a while."

Naegi raised an eyebrow at Mondo at the mention of "laying low". Mondo only winked.

Another minute passed, and Kazuichi was ready to begin working. Mondo stood and moved to help him with whatever he needed. He was excited to implement the changes and could only hope his friends wouldn't get too bored waiting until it was done.

 

* * *

 

"...Okay, I think she's gone. She freaked out when she saw me."

As expected, Asahina had appeared and tried to sneak a glance inside the house. Fuyuhiko had glared at her through the window and punched the garage door. It seemed to have scared her off.

"Where'd she hear about it, anyway?" Mondo wondered aloud. Kazuichi was suspiciously quiet. He'd always been terrible at keeping secrets.

"By the way, Naegi, thanks for securing the funding!" Kazuichi said loudly, as if to distract from the subject. Naegi laughed and shrugged awkwardly, his half-eaten sandwich still in his hands.

"Yeah, well, I'll probably end up being Byakuya-kun's slave for a thousand years at this rate. He's always reminding me that I owe him favors, but then he'll make some snide remark about how I probably can't do anything useful for him."

"Togami is... _Togami_ ," Mondo sighed.

Kazuichi and Mondo had been working together on the bike for about an hour. Mondo had run out of proper snacks, so Naegi had gone back inside to make sandwiches. At the moment, Mondo was carefully holding the fancy new backseat in place as Kazuichi fastened it in. The sidecar was the next order of business, and Mondo had a guy (one of his gang members) coming over later to help with the paint job.

While everyone waited and worked, Leon and Kazuichi explained how they became such good friends. Fuyuhiko and Mondo joked around about their criminal rivalry. Hagakure teased Naegi about his obvious crush on Kirigiri, and then he tried to offer Fuyuhiko a fortune-telling discount. Fuyuhiko retaliated by suggesting that he instead give him the eight million dollars he owed his younger sister— "trust me," he said, "you're better off dealing with me than with her."

Mondo wouldn't drop the subject of the Ultimate Detective so easily.

"Really, though— why haven't you asked her out? If I managed to fess up, I don't see why you can't," he prodded. Naegi fidgeted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the line of questioning.

"It's just complicated, okay? I can't read her, so I don't know what she would say. Sometimes I think that she likes me, and other times... I don't know."

"Maybe Taka and I should repay everything you've done for us and set the two of you up," Mondo laughed. Leon scoffed.

"Yeah, right. You can't out-Kirigiri _Kirigiri_. She'd guess your every move!"

Mondo frowned.

"That's... Probably true."

"You and Ishimaru," Fuyuhiko said quietly to himself. "You know, I always thought something was kind of fishy there, but I didn't wanna throw around accusations. Wish I could have been involved in the whole thing. Peko does, too."

"It was your senior year!" Naegi said defensively. "We didn't want to drag you guys into things, since we figured you'd all be really busy preparing for all your big exams."

Naegi didn't go into more detail about those exams— midterms and finals, at Hope's Peak, usually involved proving that the student had improved upon their special talent. He wasn't sure that he wanted to know how the Ultimate Yakuza's final exams had gone.

"That, and it was a pretty personal inter-classmate kinda situation," Mondo added. "The people who got involved were the ones we both spent the most time with every day. We didn't mean to leave you guys out, and it's nothing personal."

"I'm not _mad_ ," Fuyuhiko clarified. "I just wish I coulda seen the dumb look on your face when he said 'yes'."

He flashed a cheeky grin. Mondo snickered and told him to go to hell. A moment, and then Fuyuhiko wandered closer, suddenly looking very solemn.

"A year already... So, uh, how serious would you say you are about this?"

Mondo blinked incredulously before he laughed.

"I wouldn't have stuck by him all this time if I wasn't serious, would I?"

"I know that, I just meant... I mean, where are you two headed? Are you planning to walk down the aisle eventually?"

Mondo's smile vanished.

"I... I _would like to_ , Fuyuhiko, but I can't. It's illegal, remember?"

"...Oh. I guess it is."

Fuyuhiko clearly felt bad about asking. Leon puffed a heavy breath out through his nose.

"I'd never really thought about it all that seriously before, but it's kinda messed up, huh? I could marry some chick I meet on the sidewalk tomorrow if I wanted, but you guys can't get married... That's fucked."

Mondo shrugged, but didn't comment on it any further. It seemed like a dark cloud had formed over his head that had dampened his mood. It must have been a sore subject for him.

"There _are_ other ways, though," Fuyuhiko murmured, so quietly that Naegi could barely hear him. Mondo squinted at him.

"What's that?"

"That... It... It's nothing." Fuyuhiko hid his face. He seemed to be thinking very deeply on something. Maybe he and Mondo could address it, privately, at a later time.

Surprisingly, it was Kazuichi who managed to lighten the mood once more.

"Somebody's asking an awful lot of serious relationship questions," he said mockingly. "Thinking about something or someone in particular?"

"The _fuck_ did you—" Fuyuhiko took a moment to recover, and then he turned into his usual yakuza self, glare and all. "Can I interest you in a pair of custom concrete shoes?!"

Fuyuhiko's blush rendered the threat ineffective, so everyone laughed at his expense instead.

"Y'know... This has been fun," Hagakure chuckled. "We should totally have a big class reunion. Classes 77 and 78, together again."

"Really?!" Kazuichi couldn't help but giggle at the suggestion. "I'm surprised you guys would miss us, considering all the trouble we caused!"

"Not to mention the property damage," Fuyuhiko grumbled, having been successfully distracted.

"Well, I don't miss Hanamura-san's weird sexual comments," Naegi said through a shudder, "but I do miss other stuff, like Koizumi-san's amazing photographs of every school event, and Nidai-san's great encouragement, or Tsumiki-san being able to help whenever someone got hurt... I even sort of miss Saionji-san's insults. The school feels kind of quiet without your class."

Everyone hummed or nodded in agreement. Mondo smiled wistfully.

"You know who I miss? Fuckin' _Gundham_. I mean, yeah, he's weird, but that guy is a riot. Never a dull moment with him around."

"Yeah, but he might be too busy for any reunions," Kazuichi mused as he finished securing the last of the screws and gave the chair a testing shove. "Last time we talked at length, he said he was heading to Novoselic for a couple of weeks."

"Novoselic?" Fuyuhiko's eyebrows shot up. "Is he visiting a certain princess?"

"Well, there's that, too, but he said it was to help with some kinda animal rights thing Miss Sonia wants to start. Those _Makango_ things aren't treated very well. ...I'm still not really sure what they are."

"Dude, I have _tried_ to find out," Mondo groaned. "They don't show up on google. I feel like she might have been fucking with us. I mean, how would we know?!"

Naegi leaned back in his chair, looking very relaxed and at peace.

"I think that's nice," he said. "Class 77 is really living up to its potential."

"Yeah," Fuyuhiko agreed through an embarrassed laugh. "I'd like to think we are."

Setting up and securing the sidecar, along with testing the removal and re-attachment mechanism, took another few hours, if not longer. Leon fell asleep in his chair while the others continued chatting and telling jokes. Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko were practically interrogated, as Naegi and Mondo wanted to know _everything_ about what Class 77 was up to. The sun has started to set by the time everything was done.

Mondo assured his friends not to worry about throwing away their plates, promising that he would clean up the mess himself. Kazuichi attempted to hand over the rest of the money after he woke Leon.

"It's not even mine," Mondo said, pushing the wad away. "Makoto's the one who got it for me."

Kazuichi looked curiously at Naegi, who shrugged as he offered up a friendly smile.

"Keep it," he insisted. "Byakuya-kun isn't going to miss it."

"Don't mind if I do!" Kazuichi shoved the cash back into his pocket.

Mondo bid each man a fond farewell, hugging some and shaking hands with or high-fiving others, and after a short while, he was alone in the now dim garage. He turned on the overhead light. It would only be about twenty minutes before his gang member arrived to help him paint the new sidecar to match the bike.

He grinned. He could hardly wait.

This plan was already turning out even better than he had expected.


	7. A (Literal) Fluff Chapter

Jin Kirigiri had given his approval of the full project after visiting the shelter for himself.

The rescue apparently saw the arrangement as an honor, and they'd volunteered to staff an animal daycare at the school for those times when students couldn't watch their pets. They'd volunteered to provide such a thing _free of charge_ in exchange for getting to use Hope's Peak's endorsement to advertise itself online. Everything was working out even better than Kiyotaka could have anticipated, and he liked to dream big.

He was now at the door to the very establishment, ready to meet the owner and peruse some of the potential adoptees. He could hear the animals from outside. It was a chorus of barks and meows and tweets. Chihiro was already waiting for him inside, and he'd said something about waiting for "the others". Kiyotaka knew who one of these guests would be, as he'd been involved for a while now, but couldn't imagine who else Chihiro could have invited.

The smell of animals greeted Kiyotaka as soon as he had swung the door open, and the place was kind of loud and overwhelming, but he knew that he would adjust. Chihiro waited by the front desk and smiled as soon as he saw him. He waved.

"It should only be a few more minutes," he said, fiddling with his skirt. Kiyotaka suspected that he wouldn't have to wear one anymore any day now.

Chihiro's guess was correct. The first of their invited guests to arrive was the only one that Kiyotaka had been expecting. And he _definitely_ had a way of announcing himself.

" _Tremble, mortals, for it is I— he who bears the evil scarlet eye!_ "

There was a loud, booming laugh as the door was thrown open. Most of the animals fell silent as if in reverence. Kiyotaka sighed.

Gundham Tanaka always made a hell of an entrance.

"Hi, Tanaka-san! Thanks so much for your help!" Chihiro sang. Gundham settled down almost immediately, and his malicious grin vanished. He was usually serious when it came to animals and their needs.

"...It is no matter, truly. This project will provide loving homes for many abandoned and neglected beasts. To be involved is a genuine honor, and I must congratulate you, Ishimaru-kun, for your forward thinking in generating this idea."

Kiyotaka waved the compliment off.

"I-It's nothing, really! It was based on some suggestions from other students. I just did most of the legwork. ...Did you, er, receive my messages? I'd really appreciate your help..."

Gundham winked and nodded slightly.

"The task should pose no problem. I have a good read on the personalities of your targets, so finding the right demonic familiar for each one will be a simple matter."

Chihiro raised an eyebrow at Kiyotaka. He hadn't realized that they were already going pet shopping. He trusted his friend, though, and so he didn't say anything.

"If you don't mind my asking, who else are we waiting for?" Kiyotaka asked after the trio had chatted for another few minutes. The suspense was killing him. Gundham laughed darkly.

"I took the liberty of summoning two of my former allies in battle." That meant _I asked a couple of my classmates to tag along_. "I shall not reveal my hand too early. It would bring about calamity." _But I want to keep it a surprise._

The next couple of minutes felt like hours to Kiyotaka, who stared stubbornly at the door. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the doorknob turned. Then, another familiar face entered, and he had rushed forward and seized the newcomer in a hug before she even had time to register his presence.

"Peko-chan! Peko-chan! _Aaaaaaahhhhh!_ "

He squeezed her and wailed into her shoulder. She froze for a moment, and once she'd figured out that this wasn't an enemy out to get the first strike, she smiled and gave a more gentle squeeze in return, accompanied by an affectionate pat of his head.

"Hello there, Taka-kun. I've missed you."

Peko had gotten taller. She was taller than Kiyotaka when she had her boots on. She also looked a little bit more confident than she'd been before, but he could have been imagining things.

"I thought you might be pleased to be reunited with the Silver-Haired Mistress of the Sword," Gundham mused happily, looking very proud of himself. "And as she, too, is fond of demon beasts, I thought it would be a mutually beneficial arrangement."

"We have to exchange cell numbers so we can better keep in touch," Kiyotaka babbled as he squeezed her hands. "I haven't seen you since you graduated!"

Kiyotaka was _very_ happy to see Peko Pekoyama.

They'd become friends when they'd discovered their shared values of devotion and discipline, and their mutual interest in kendo. They'd seen one another often once they'd started taking the same martial arts classes. It had been such a natural routine that it had never occurred to Kiyotaka to ask her about her cell number or if she had any social media accounts. She'd promised to try and visit Hope's Peak in person when she had a chance, but surely her work with the yakuza kept her very busy. Kiyotaka tried not to think about that, though.

Peko and Kiyotaka _also_ seemed to share a certain affinity for foul-mouthed, hot-tempered criminals with soft hearts, but that was a conversation for another day. Peko was shy, and she didn't much like talking about her obvious interest.

"I'm sorry for not doing a better job of keeping in contact," Peko said glumly. "I just haven't found the time, and I've never been terribly social as it is. But this place is closer to my current home than the school is, so I managed to make time to meet you all here. ...How is Oowada-kun? Fuyuhiko said he saw him recently."

Kiyotaka lit up at the mention of the biker.

"He's doing great! He's planning some kind of secret for our anniversary, but I'll let him keep it a surprise. Fuyuhiko-kun must have been helping him."

"And things are still going well for the two of you?"

"They're going _really_ well!"

"...I'm happy to hear that."

Fuyuhiko seemed to be more easily able to clear time in his schedule than Peko, even though they were usually together. Kiyotaka suspected that Peko had thrown herself into some very heavy training. The kind of thing that she probably wasn't supposed to talk about. He'd leave the matter alone.

"Nice to see you all getting along," another voice greeted. "Thanks for the invite, Gundham."

"Behold: The Scarlet Witch! She has come to lend us the aid of her soul-capturing photographic device!"

" _Hey_ — Don't call me a witch!"

"Oh!" Peko turned to face the doorway, and her pleasantly surprised expression told Kiyotaka that she hadn't know the other girl would be there. "Mahiru-chan. Such a pleasure to see you."

Peko bowed. Mahiru Koizumi, already adjusting her camera lens, bowed back.

"Hi, Peko. Hey, everyone. Gundham wanted me to take picture of the animals for the school website."

"Oh?" Kiyotaka asked after returning her bow. "Have you spoken with the headmaster?"

"I have! If it goes well, he might hire me as their regular gal. Which I could really use." Mahiru sighed as she tugged on the leather strap around her neck. Kiyotaka raised an eyebrow.

"Really? You're having difficulty finding clients?!" It was hard to believe that the Ultimate Photographer would face such an issue, but Mahiru nodded and made a disgusted noise.

"You'd be surprised. Freelance photography is hard as it is, but I also happen to have very high standards. Almost nobody is willing to pay artists what they need to make a real profit, much less what they actually _deserve_. ...So, yeah, a regular paid gig would be good for me."

"I was under the impression that you only photograph people, though," Peko recalled. "Are you expanding your repertoire?"

Mahiru chuckled a bit anxiously. She always seemed to gesture with her camera, like it was a part of her own body, or like it was habit to have her hands there.

"Something like that. I like to take pictures of people's smiles, but almost nothing makes people smile as much as cute animals, so I think I'll manage." Her face warmed as she donned a teasing smile directed at Peko. "And I just might get some pictures of _you_ smiling! It's about time. You have to let me take lots of pictures of you guys."

"It's a deal!" Chihiro agreed on behalf of everyone. Peko looked like she wanted to protest, but she kept her mouth closed.

Mahiru had wanted to get a cute shot of her gentle smile for a very long time.

 

* * *

 

Mahiru got distracted surprisingly easily when she had plenty of subjects to photograph. Kiyotaka had to remind her, occasionally, that she was only supposed to take pictures of the animals ready for the adoption page, and she'd insist that she could always tell her pictures apart and would easily remember which ones were for work and which were for her own pleasure.

" _Ooh_ , that's a great one! You look so cute, Peko. Maybe I ought to have these printed and mailed to your house...?"

Peko turned bright red.

"P-Please don't!" It was likely that Fuyuhiko would see them if that were to happen. But maybe that was exactly what Mahiru had meant to imply. "Though... I suppose if you would like to email some of them to me, I would have no objections."

"That's good enough for me."

Peko returned to what she'd been doing before— trying to pet a dog. As usual, animals looked fearful of her. The dog's eyes were wide, and it hid in the back corner of its stall.

"Now, now," Gundham said quietly in a soothing voice, gesturing at and reaching out to the dog. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

As Kiyotaka had expected, the dog eventually walked to Gundham's hand and gave it a sniff. It immediately deemed him trustworthy. Gundham always had that effect on animals. His hamsters hadn't acted up once, even when surrounded by all of the bigger, louder beasts. He gestured at Peko and then at the dog with his eyes, which told Peko that it was safe to try again. It didn't recoil. She appeared to melt, completely losing her stoic expression and melancholy presence. Mahiru snapped several photographs of her.

"Peko's first successful animal encounter! I'm glad I got this one on film," Mahiru laughed. Kiyotaka and Chihiro clapped and congratulated her, and even the staff member keeping an eye on them joined in.

Chihiro typed up descriptions on her phone of the animals that the staff member recommended, and Mahiru snapped pictures of them once Gundham deemed them safe and easily tamable. Kiyotaka watched, studying each dog intently, and Peko continued to pet animals to her heart's content once Gundham calmed them down.

"You know," Gundham said suddenly, looking at Kiyotaka out of the corner of his eye, "I do believe that _the boys_ are up to something. Your beloved and several of his allies. They were summoned to his home to work on some secret task."

"Oh?" Kiyotaka smiled. He'd already suspected as much based on what Peko had said, and he'd noticed that Mondo had a habit of accidentally dropping hints every so often that he would immediately try to dismiss or retract. Probably because he was too excited. The sweetheart. "What makes you so sure of that?"

"Souda told me," Gundham replied simply. It was kind of unusual for him to phrase anything so casually. "He was contacted by Kuwata-kun, and was instructed to invite Kuzuryuu-kun as well. The three of them visited his dwelling place together, but would not disclose to me their purpose."

"Did Kazuichi tell you that himself?" Mahiru asked, sounding surprised. Gundham nodded, an eyebrow raised, like he didn't get what the big deal was. "I'm surprised the two of you have stayed in contact."

"Why?"

"...I mean, the two of you were constantly butting heads over Sonia. I thought you couldn't stand the guy. And you _did_ just get back from Novoselic, so... I guess I'd assumed that you had 'won' and wouldn't bother with him anymore."

Gundham made a strange face.

"Do you truly think I would cast my allies in battle aside so carelessly?" _I wouldn't just stop talking to a classmate over something that petty_. "You may be interested to know that we have reached something of an understanding. I have come to the conclusion that we have a great deal more in common than I had initially assumed. That was my error, and for it I have tried to make apologies." _We're actually friends now and don't fight over her anymore._

"...Is that so?" Mahiru's smile was slightly teasing. "What changed?"

"Th-That..." Gundham adjusted his scarf, covering the lower half of his face with it and turning to look at a cat in order to avoid Mahiru's eyes. "...is no matter for mortals to concern themselves with."

"Huh...? That's not fair! Tell me!"

Kiyotaka laughed as the two bickered. Mahiru was awfully forceful sometimes. She wouldn't let him get away with such a flimsy excuse for keeping her in the dark about one of her friends.

He turned his attention to Peko, who was staring at a cat. Gundham hadn't spoken to this one yet, but it didn't seem afraid anyway. It just studied her, its tail waving, waiting for her to do something.

"Peko-chan, I think that one likes you!"

"...Impossible. I-It must be some kind of mistake."

She didn't move. She was probably afraid that it would run away if she did. Kiyotaka studied her face for a moment, and he was suddenly reminded of Asahina. Thinking of what she had asked him, he looked around and lowered his voice.

"Listen, Peko-chan, are you... planning to confess anytime soon? I think that it would make you happy."

Peko flinched. As he'd expected, Kiyotaka hadn't had to clarify his statement any further. She shook her head, blushing.

"I'm... not like you. It wouldn't go my way. I'd mess up somehow."

"But I don't think that's true! I know that he cares for you, even if it's not in the exact same way, and I doubt that it isn't." Peko didn't answer, even when allowed several empty seconds to do so. Kiyotaka sighed. "...I've lived this. I know how you feel, and... I was overthinking it. Just follow your heart! Smile and start out with something casual, like asking if he'd like to go with you for a cup of coffee. There's no way he'd be able to say no to that."

Peko studied her friend for a moment, looking mildly amused. Kiyotaka focused on her piercing red eyes and wondered if the rush of intense feeling that he got from them was the same as the feeling people got from his own eyes, since the two of them had that bizarre feature in common.

"Funny," she said, smiling fondly. "A friend of mine said the exact same thing."

She didn't say anything more on the subject, and Kiyotaka had learned a long while ago that pushing her didn't accomplish much of anything. They strolled together along the aisles of cages and pens. Gundham had returned to studying the animals, and Mahiru was still taking pictures, but she hadn't yet given up on getting answers out of him. Gundham had stopped responding.

Peko slowed to a stop right in front of a particular pen and nudged Chihiro.

"Doesn't that one kind of look like...?"

"Hm?" Chihiro looked inside the pen, where several puppies ran around and played together, their mother watching with tired eyes. "Oh, it does! That's so funny!"

Chihiro and Peko both giggled at something. Kiyotaka stood closer to the pen to get a closer look, and once he caught sight of what his friends were looking at, he laughed and completely understood.

The puppies appeared to be toy poodles with soft and curly fur, and one in particular, hiding by itself in a corner, was a light brown with a slightly orange undertone.

"Come here! Come here!" Kiyotaka beckoned the puppy to him, getting a little too emotional too fast. "I love you alreadyyyy! You look like my boyfriend!"

"...Which one does?"

Gundham's intrigued voice joined the conversation. He strode to Kiyotaka's side and could tell which one he was trying to coax over. He made a clicking sound at it. The puppy tilted its head, studying Gundham, and then seemed to make up its mind. It wandered over on slightly wobbly legs and licked the back of Kiyotaka's hand. He sobbed. Chihiro sighed.

"It's cute, but you don't have to cry about it," Mahiru teased. She snapped a picture of him bawling anyway.

"Oh, you're looking at Cocoa?" The staff member asked. "She's just barely old enough for adoption. She doesn't look it, though. Her growth seems to be a little stunted. That's why she still walks like that— her legs are too short."

"Does it cause her pain?" Peko asked, sounding concerned.

"It doesn't look that way," the employee reassured her. "She can run around just fine. The worst problem it could cause is joint pain, but proper exercise, plenty of rest, and a good diet along with regular trips to the vet should prevent that. Still... She probably won't get a whole lot bigger than she is now."

Kiyotaka tried to get a good read on her size through his tears. It was almost hard to believe that she could really stay so little. She was noticeably smaller than her brothers and sisters. Her mom was far from enormous, as she _was_ a toy poodle, but she dwarfed Cocoa.

"...Do you mind unlocking the pen and allowing us a closer look at her?" Gundham asked. Kiyotaka nodded in agreement. The staff member shrugged.

"Sure, no problem."

Chihiro couldn't contain her excited squeal as everyone made room for the worker. He allowed himself into the pen and picked up Cocoa, handing her off to Kiyotaka, who immediately started crying all over again.

"Do you like her, Taka?" Chihiro asked teasingly. He nodded, sniffling.

"I love her. Sh-She's _perfect_ ," he wailed.

"Are you sure you aren't looking for, um... A bigger dog? A Doberman or something?" Mahiru asked under her breath. Peko and Mahiru both seemed to know what was going on. Kiyotaka shook his head.

"N-No, this is the right size. Fluffy, too."

"Huh." Mahiru's eyebrows raised. "I guess you can't judge a book by its cover. ... _You_ already know that, though, I'm sure."

Kiyotaka was reluctant to hand Cocoa over, but Gundham did have to do what he did best. He inspected her, and she stayed calm as he did so. One of his hamsters (the fat one) popped out of his scarf to sniff at her, and then seemed to deem her safe and retreated.

"...She's healthy," Gundham concluded. "Well-behaved, too. A very good girl if I ever saw one, and... I believe that she suits the target quite well. She would make an excellent familiar."

The others clapped and cheered. Kiyotaka immediately pulled the employee aside to discuss things. Along with Cocoa, they'd also found a very quiet cat named Jane Austen. If that wasn't a sign, Kiyotaka didn't know what was.

Before they left, Gundham snapped a picture, with his phone, of the one animal— that cat— that hadn't shown any fear of Peko. He brushed it off when asked what he planned to do with that, but Kiyotaka had a sneaking suspicion.

The group left the rescue in a collectively good mood and smiled as they parted ways. Kiyotaka made his way back to the bus stop with a skip in his step.

_I'm going to be the best boyfriend ever._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PEKO AND TAKA BEING FRIENDS IS MY FAVORITE THING AAAAAHHHHHHH and also Gundham is precious and really fun to write. It's especially fun to write his dramatic lines followed by Kiyotaka's mental translations. I grew to like Mahiru a lot after finishing her FTEs, too, though I admit I sort of misunderstood her at first.
> 
> And much like my casual hinting for both Naegiri and Naegami, I'm kinda torn between shipping Gundham with Sonia or with Kazuichi, or even with just shipping the three of them with one another. So I included hints of both. :'D It seems implied that they're all discussing the possibility of being an OT3 and calling it even? Maybe? As for what Gundham's referring to about reaching an understanding with Kazuichi, I have a cute idea for that that I might include as a bonus story sometime in the future. It'd be one of those things that you can interpret as romantic or as platonic depending on your preferences, but I've got the whole plot worked out.


	8. Ready for the Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A "just in case" content warning— this chapter uses a few gay slurs. It makes more sense in context, but some people just aren't comfortable reading those under any circumstances, so bear that in mind.

Mondo was lucky that the streets of the little town he lived in were relatively empty. His newly-modified motorcycle was parked in what was nearly the middle of the street, and two of his friends stood beside it.

"What a beauty!" Kazuichi whistled. "The paint job really sells it. It's no wonder the detailing took so long."

Mondo grinned and patted the side of his bike. Several of his men had had to work on it over the course of several days to achieve the level of detail and luster that they had. It looked absurdly expensive.

"I thought ya might be able to appreciate it. Figured you'd wanna be here for the test run, too, seein' as ya did half-build the damn thing."

Kazuichi nodded.

"Hell yeah! Let's see her in action!"

Mondo and Kazuichi were sufficiently pumped up and ready to go. Naegi, on the other hand, didn't seem to know why he'd been invited. He awkwardly adjusted his hair (the strange antenna at the top).

"...I understand why the two of you are so excited, but why did you invite me along, Mondo-kun? I still don't know anything about motorcycles."

Mondo's eyes glistened in a way that Naegi immediately disliked.

"Well, the sidecar is for Chi, n' you're one of the smallest dudes I know."

" _Of course_ ," Naegi sighed.

He objected, at first, to getting in the little contraption. If it hadn't been tested yet, how was he to know that it would stay secured? But Mondo begged and Kazuichi prodded, and so he was left with little choice in the matter.

"There's nobody in the road, man. Don't be such a baby," Mondo teased. Naegi contemplated retracting his agreement for a split second.

"If we needed somebody as small as Fujisaki-chan, we should have just called up Kuzuryuu-san again," Naegi muttered as he climbed into the sidecar. Kazuichi laughed.

"Careful!" he warned. "That guy may be tiny as hell, but if he hears you, you might wake up without a kidney!"

"Or worse," another voice commented. Mondo jumped and turned to face it.

Kazuichi _screamed_.

"K-K-Kuzuryuu! It was—" Kazuichi pointed at the sidecar. "It was Naegi! It was all him!"

"Wha— don't just throw me under the bus!"

"I see you haven't changed much, Kazuichi," a fifth person chuckled as he strolled casually up to the group. Mondo grinned at the sight of him.

"Hajime!" Mondo called. "Yo! Haven't seen you in friggin' ages!"

Kazuichi tried to cease his trembling under Fuyuhiko's gaze, took a deep breath, and threw his hands behind his head.

"Wh-What's up, baby gangsta?!" He teased, forcing a smile. "W-We weren't expecting—"

" _Don't fucking call me that!_ Jesus, you're worse than Owari!"

"O-Okay, I'm sorryyyyyyy—!"

For whatever reason, Fuyuhiko had appeared out of _nowhere_ , and for even less explainable reasons, he had Hajime Hinata with him. Naegi, who had gotten along with him very well, excitedly scrambled out of the sidecar to give him a quick 'bro hug'.

It was a bit unusual that Hajime was friends with any of the Ultimates. He'd been a part of the Reserve course, and he had no special skills whatsoever besides his inexplicable ability to make people feel better (Fuyuhiko had dubbed him "The Ultimate Counselor"). But he'd become good friends with the 77th's class rep, Chiaki Nanami, and through her, he had met and befriended the others. Before long, he had become an honorary classmate, and then he'd started getting to know class 78. An unusual process to be sure, but one that had proven to be well worth it.

"What are you two doing together?" Mondo asked once he'd recovered from his surprise and properly greeted them both (and once Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko had stopped bickering). Fuyuhiko snickered, and then he stood on his tiptoes to throw an arm around Hajime's shoulder.

"What, I can't hang out with my favorite underling?"

Hajime scowled.

"I already told you, I'm not joining your clan! I just wanna live a normal life!"

Fuyuhiko laughed uproariously, smiling that beautifully innocent smile of his. It was the kind of smile that didn't belong on the face of someone like him.

"You can argue all you want, but you've got no choice. We have an oath, remember?! We're goddamn blood brothers!"

Hajime groaned and tried to seem annoyed, but Mondo didn't miss the hint of a smile on his face. He would have to ask about this whole "blood brothers" thing later.

"Seriously, though," Naegi said, "what brings you guys out here? I didn't even tell you that we were planning to test out the bike today!"

" _Please_. Like I need you to tell me that. Do you have any idea how many eyes I got all around this city?! I got eyes up and down Japan, kid!" Fuyuhiko boasted. When no one seemed to react, he visibly deflated. "...Kirigiri told me."

"...I didn't tell _her_ , either," Naegi mumbled. He knew by now that there was no use in trying to figure out how she knew. Somehow, she knew everything.

Fuyuhiko didn't answer that question right away. Instead, he exchanged a tense glance with Hajime, who gave him a nod.

"I wasn't exactly _planning_ to stop by... My little sister's demanding that I see some stupid fuckin' movie with her, and I thought it'd be more bearable if I brought this guy along." Fuyuhiko jostled Hajime's shoulder. "But then I received some news from one of my underlings, and I wanted to ask you about it directly. ...And don't you even _try_ to lie to me!"

Mondo stiffened as Fuyuhiko gestured directly at him. He heard Naegi grumble something about being able to relate when it comes to demanding little sisters.

"...Oh, yeah? What news could you have gotten that would involve me?"

The yakuza seemed to puff out his chest.

"Well... A criminal enterprise like the Kuzuryuu clan is always lookin' to hire more people," Fuyuhiko explained. "And it's not unusual for people to look for work with the yakuza after graduating from the bosozoku. So I didn't think much of it at first, but..."

Fuyuhiko paused and shook his head as he thought. Mondo couldn't meet his gaze, and he could feel Naegi and Kazuichi staring at him.

"...What?" Mondo asked.

Fuyuhiko stepped forward, his arms crossed, until he was standing right in front of the motorcycle and staring Mondo down.

"You plannin' to tell me why the Diamonds are dropping members like flies all of a sudden?"

Naegi gasped. Mondo sighed. He'd known that someone would ask about this eventually, and he should've figured that it would be someone like Fuyuhiko.

"You've got a lot of them applyin' to work for ya?" Mondo guessed. Fuyuhiko nodded. "I guess they've gotta work somewhere. It's not like I can fault 'em for it."

"Don't dodge the goddamn question!" The yakuza growled, grabbing hold of a handlebar and giving it a violent shake. For a moment, the entire motorcycle seemed like it would topple, and then Mondo gripped it hard and prevented it from doing so. "Just fuckin' answer me!"

Mondo looked glumly at the pavement.

"I, uh..." He scratched the back of his neck, refusing to look up. "When I started goin' out with Taka, I felt like there was no point in bein' stuck halfway in the closet. I didn't wanna have to live a lie while I was with my crew. I knew a few of 'em might have a problem with it, but... But screw those guys, right? I don't need 'em."

Naegi frowned.

"You told them?" The luckster guessed. Mondo nodded.  
  
"I held a meeting. Told 'em the truth. And I said that if they didn't like it, they could find another flag to ride under, 'cause I wouldn't let that kinda tension ruin things. ...And I meant it. I still do. But..." Mondo's throat seemed to tighten for a moment, cutting off his words. "...I didn't think... I guess I thought their loyalty was stronger than somethin' like that. But a whole lot of 'em walked out on us, right then and there. And more have been leavin' every day. They always say they don't wanna ride with someone who's not a _real_ man, like my brother was."

Fuyuhiko squinted, apparently unsure if Mondo was telling the truth. When it hit him, he scoffed, and loudly.

"...Are you fucking kidding me? ...Over something like that?! The hell does that have to do with riding motorcycles and breaking shit?!"

"Not a whole lot, but... it's a real 'man's world'," Mondo sighed. "Apparently fags don't count." Naegi recoiled and his eyes went wide. Mondo snorted. "What? ...Don't give me that look! I'm allowed to say it!"

"I-I mean, I _guess_ it's fine if it's you referring to yourself, but it's still... kind of a mean word..."

"Who says it's mean if I'm talkin' about me?! I'm reclaimin' that shit!" Mondo glared at Naegi, and then he sighed again. "...Either way, I was _trying_ to be sarcastic. Some of my ex-members had some real _choice words_. ...I heard a hell of a lot worse than that," he grumbled. Hajime shook his head disapprovingly at that.

" _Look_ ," Fuyuhiko shouted, interrupting the side conversation. "Whether you're a faggot, or a queer, or a homo, or _whatever the fuck_ , you could _still_ kick most of their asses any day of the week. And don't you fuckin' forget that!"

Mondo blinked, and then he grinned wolfishly.

"...That's true. ...I let 'em escape unharmed, though. Taka doesn't want me gettin' into too many fights."

Naegi risked a glance at Mondo's hands. His large hands were as rough as sandpaper, likely from being calloused a thousand times over, and he often had cuts and scrapes along his knuckles. ...Or, at least, that's what they'd looked like two years ago. In time, and with plenty of lotions and creams being forced upon him by his fussy boyfriend and his pack of overbearing girls, and with a certain nurse constantly applying bandages and ointments to his wounds, those hands had gotten softer. And now, they _almost_ looked normal. Maybe he really wasn't fighting people all the time anymore.

"C'mere, man," Fuyuhiko coaxed. Mondo chuckled as he got off of the bike and gave his friend an appreciative squeeze. Fuyuhiko gave him a rough couple of pats on the back. "You're the toughest fuckin' queer I know, that's for sure."

"Thanks, man."

Fuyuhiko pulled back to look Mondo in the eye, and he smirked in a way that instantly made the others tremble. Kazuichi, especially, had learned to fear that glint in his eye.

"I could pay 'em back, you know."

Mondo gulped.

"...What? What are you talking about?"

Fuyuhiko made some kind of gesture that Mondo seemed to understand. Naegi and the others didn't, but Mondo's expression gave them a vague (if terrifying) idea.

"They're coming right to my doorstep, aren't they? They think they can get away with that kind of disloyalty— that kind of _disrespect_ to one of my own— and then show up at _my goddamn house?!_ They've got another thing coming!"

" _Fuyuhiko_ — don't kill any of them."

The yakuza put up his hands in mock surrender.

"I wasn't gonna—"

"And no removing of any fingertips, or of any other body parts. ...No stabbing, cutting, injecting, poisoning, puncturing, punching, bruising, burning, drowning, electrocuting, slicing, choking, crushing, or shooting _of any kind!_ " Mondo said emphatically. Fuyuhiko frowned and clicked his tongue in irritation.

"You people never let me have any fun! ...But, fine. I'll leave them alone," he relented. "...You'd better not expect me to hire those bastards, though! I don't need cowards like that among my men. If you're gonna be in my clan, you've gotta be willing to lay down your life for it, not tuck in your tail and run at the first sign of disagreement," he added. Mondo nodded slowly and then patted his shoulder.

"Fair enough. Don't hire any of 'em, then." Mondo squinted into the sun for a moment. "...And anyway, it's not so bad. The ones who stuck around are more loyal than ever. Don't tell Taka, but he's got his own bodyguard squad. ...Just in case, y'know? A lotta people are still pretty pissed at his grandpa."

Naegi laughed loudly.

"A bodyguard squad?! What, there's a group assigned to him?!"

Mondo chuckled and shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed.

"It's not like they stalk him! I-I just meant... If he has to walk somewhere alone for whatever reason, I send 'em a signal and they tail 'im from a distance. He hasn't caught on yet."

"I think you're kind of overprotective," Hajime mused.

"Think I'm just lookin' after my own, _thank you very much_ ," Mondo retorted. Hajime had a way of being bluntly honest without being rude. Hajime seemed to at least somewhat accept that answer.

There was a moment of silence. Naegi had started to climb back into the sidecar, and then he stopped to turn and look back at Fuyuhiko. Everyone had the same thought, but no one had the balls to ask just yet. Fuyuhiko frowned.

"The fuck are you all looking at?"

"I think they want you to ride in the sidecar, Fuyuhiko," Hajime said gently. "It's for Fujisaki-chan, remember? You're the closest in size to her."

Fuyuhiko silently fumed for a minute or two. Hajime, at least, he was willing to listen to, seeing as they were blood brothers. Even so, he didn't like to be reminded of his own size. Mondo still had the hope for him that he'd have a late growth spurt. Time was running short for that, though.

" _Fine_ ," he relented. "Outta my fuckin' way, Naegi."

The others tried not to laugh as Fuyuhiko clambered into the sidecar and buckled himself in. Kazuichi got in the back seat, since he and Kiyotaka were close in height, and he, too, strapped down. He gave Mondo a nod, and thus, the test ride began.

Everything held together. The bike ran better and more smoothly than ever. The test run was an overwhelming success. Even Taka would approve of the safety measures. Naegi clapped when the bike returned to his side.

"I think we're ready!" he cheered.

"I think we are," Mondo agreed. He parked the bike, deployed the kickstand, and dismounted before helping Fuyuhiko out of the sidecar.

"It didn't rattle a whole lot or anything," Fuyuhiko begrudgingly admitted. "It was a pretty smooth ride."

"I think that even Ishimaru-kun would approve, then," Hajime guessed.

"I sure hope so." Mondo's tone betrayed his lingering nervousness. He was still scared that he'd mess this up somehow. Naegi patted his shoulder.

"Hey," he said soothingly, "don't worry about it. Kiyotaka-kun is going to love it, and so will Fujisaki-chan."

"Y'think so?"

"I know so."

Mondo smiled at his friend, who was still supportive after all this time (and after he'd literally punched him in the face so long ago).

"...Thanks, Makoto." Without much warning, Mondo spread his arms wide and pulled all four of the other men into an uncomfortable bear hug. The width of his shoulders made it easy enough for him to do, but it was a tight squeeze, and Fuyuhiko's face pressed awkwardly into someone's chest. "All'a you guys— you're great. Really."

" _Holy shit_ , Oowada— such a fuckin' sap! Lemme go!"

"Didn't you initiate the hug, like, ten minutes ago?" Hinata reminded his yakuza friend. Fuyuhiko punched him in the arm.

"Shut up!"

Fuyuhiko eventually wriggled free, at which point the embrace was broken for everyone. Mondo laughed as he allowed everyone to escape.

Whether he was embarrassing or sappy or not, he didn't really care anymore. He appreciated the friends that he'd found, and he wanted them to know it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay Fuyuhiko and Hajime have the CUTEST fucking friendship like oh my god. They're definitely my broTP out of the second game. And of course Hajime and Naegi would have gotten along, as they're both the only semi-normal people in their respective groups... And they both have magical counselor abilities.


	9. Pep Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OBLIGATORY APOLOGY: Further apologies to anyone following multiple works of mine, as you'll see this exact message more than once.
> 
> I am VERY sorry for my longer-than-usual delay in updating. I've always been slow when it comes to writing, but it's been difficult for me to keep up with it lately. Unfortunately, I have had very severe writer's block since my father's death on July 21st. Planning the service and making next of kin arrangements has also taken up a lot of my family's time, and being with them is my primary focus right now. Again, sorry for the wait, but hopefully you can all understand.

Kiyotaka nervously paced his room, back straight and hands neatly clasped behind him, as he waited. His heartbeat wouldn't seem to settle down. He was too busy thinking about tomorrow— about how wonderful it would be, yes, but also about the number of things that could go wrong.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when his anticipated visitors finally rang his intercom's doorbell. He tried to seem casual as he ran to it and allowed them inside.

"Everything went okay on your end?" Chihiro asked as soon as he was safely inside. Asahina threw herself onto the bed, while Kirigiri and Sakura stood beside it and waited. Kiyotaka nodded.

"I have the present secured. ...Hina-chan, Oogami-chan. You remember my asking you for help with presentation, yes? Any ideas?"

"We've totally got you covered," Asahina declared with confidence. "The little box we have is so cute! And we thought of a sweet way for you to hand it over, too— it should be a callback to when you handed him that note. You remember that, right?"

Kiyotaka smiled. Of _course_ he remembered that. He sometimes forgot that so many of his friends had been watching from the sidelines. Kiyotaka had handed off the note rather casually back then, acting as if he simply needed Mondo to hold it while he looked at the flowers. Mondo was sure to bring him another bouquet tomorrow, or maybe a card, and so he could easily replicate that memory.

"That's a great idea!" Mondo, surely, would notice and appreciate such a detail. "...This is... really happening, isn't it?"

It wasn't a school day, thankfully, and so they had the entire day to celebrate and arrange their plans. Mondo had asked him to meet him in the school’s western parking lot at ten. Mondo, too, had planned something. He'd been sneaking around with the boys for a while.

"And we have everything prepared on our end, do we not?" Kirigiri asked. The others— everyone besides Kiyotaka— giggled and nodded. Kiyotaka didn't bother trying to ask them what secret they'd planned. They'd done this last time and things had gone exceedingly well (with the exception of two guys and their kazoos), so he saw no point in demanding to know their plot or telling them not to interfere.

The girls (and and Chihiro) were about to leave and let Kiyotaka get some sleep, but Asahina caught him sighing nervously and elbowed Sakura.

"You two go on ahead," she whispered to Kirigiri and Chihiro. "We'll stay behind and get him hyped up, okay?"

Kirigiri nodded, not putting up a fight on that front. Asahina was more suited to pep talks than anybody else. Chihiro, too, nodded, but seemed a little hesitant. He said nothing as he left and quietly closed the door behind him and the detective.

"...What's up, Taka-kun?"

Kiyotaka jumped as he looked up. He hadn't been paying much attention and had assumed that all four of his visitors had left at once. He shrugged, the movement awkward and stiff.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Pfft— _that's_ a lie. You suck at lying."

Asahina threw herself onto his mattress once again, and this time Kiyotaka joined her there, lying down flat on his back with his hands folded over his stomach— the way people typically laid on the sofa in their therapist's offices in movies. He didn't say anything about the discussion they'd had the last time they'd been together on his bed like this. Sakura, knowing her own weight, simply leaned against the footboard. Her massive figure cast a shadow over both of her friends, blotting out all of the overhead light.

"I am not a good liar," Kiyotaka confirmed to himself. "I guess it's supposed to be a good thing. Quite inconvenient, though."

"What are you so worried about, huh? Everything's gonna go great!"

"In theory, yes, but... I mean, aren't I giving him a great deal of responsibility along with a gift?"

"It is a responsibility, to be sure," Sakura agreed, "but one that he will be happy to have. The work is balanced out by the love, comfort, and companionship he will receive."

Kiyotaka smiled. As much as he loved Mondo, he had to admit that he was a very broken man. Psychologically speaking. That was more or less how he'd convinced the headmaster to let him have a pet in the first place. And Kiyotaka loved him, but that alone wasn't enough to magically cure his illness (which had been a difficult thing to accept— that he would sometimes need to be alone). Mondo needed all of the help that he could get.

There was a long silence as another issue, the _real_ issue, swam to the forefront of his thoughts. He was almost afraid to admit to what he was thinking, but he knew that Asahina was relentless and wouldn't leave until he spit it out.

For a few days now, there had been a weight on his heart. One that made him wonder if he should go through with his plans at all.

"...I... am surprised that I've managed to keep this going for a full year," Kiyotaka confessed. Both girls were clearly confused by his statement. Sakura raised an eyebrow. "I-I keep waiting for... for the part where I inevitably mess it all up. And I know that he has similar fears, and for very understandable reasons."

Asahina made a concerned noise and exchanged a worried glance with Sakura. She rolled onto her side to get a better look at him.

"What would make you think that you'd mess up? It's not like you haven't been working hard at your relationship, or like you don't love each other anymore. You'd never cheat on him or anything like that, would you?"

Kiyotaka unconsciously clenched a hand into a fist.

"No, but... I had never even had _friends_ before coming here. _Everyone_ was cruel to me, and no one wanted anything to do with me. Then I arrive at this school, and suddenly I have more than a dozen friends, and people willing to help me, and a boyfriend on top of that? It just... feels too good to be true sometimes, I guess."

He wasn't exaggerating when he used the word _cruel_. He'd been pushed down flights of stairs, shoved in lockers and trapped for hours, had pins put in his shoes and any manner of gross things put in his jackets— middle school, truly, had been hell on earth in many ways. He'd endure that kind of treatment, and then he'd go home and not say a word about it to his father, as the man already worked so hard and was losing his hair worrying about bills and debt collectors.

Only Mondo had ever heard about that particular trauma.

"Taka—"

"A-And that's not it!" The words stung his throat, but they were spilling out, now, and he couldn't stop if he tried. "There was a time— it seems like so long ago now, but there was a time when Mondo didn't like me _at all_ and considered me an enemy. And nothing about me changed to make his opinion change. He just changed his mind. He could... he could always change it again, couldn't he? He could remember all of the things that he hated, all the things that are still there, and he—"

"Kiyotaka Ishimaru, that is _enough!"_

To Kiyotaka's surprise, it was Sakura who cut him off, her voice angry and her head lowered and her hands trembling.

"...Oogami-chan?"

"...Do you have _any_ faith in us? Do you doubt our sincerity?"

Kiyotaka gulped and pulled himself up so that he was sitting, partially in an attempt to create some distance between himself and his giant of a friend.

"O-Of course I have faith in you!"

"Then why would you fear such a thing as abandonment? Do you not do us a disservice by questioning our loyalty to you, our friend?!"

"...It's just that you wouldn't be the first to pretend to like me." His voice was bitter as he recalled that experience. He'd been dumb enough to believe, in his last year of junior high, that a few of his classmates had wanted to be friends with him. It had turned out to be an elaborate ruse, and one orchestrated for the sole purpose of collecting more ammo to embarrass him with.

" _Nonsense_. We are not liars, and we have no intention of turning our backs on you. You should know this well." Kiyotaka lowered his head in shame. It was silly that he'd still fear their motives, as they'd done plenty for him without asking anything in return. "Oowada-kun, too. It has not been easy for him to expose his heart to you, and to us. That much has been abundantly clear. Why would he subject himself to such a painful process just to trick you? Or if he had no intention of being around for something long-term?"

"B-But it's not just him I'm worried about here. It's _me_. I can be really annoying, can't I? I'm—"

"The one he fell in love with despite all of that," Sakura finished, her tone insistent. "He chose you, and he did so when he was fully aware of every aspect of your personality, good and bad. Nothing stopped him then. Why would it stop him now?" Her harsh words hung in the air for a moment before she softened. "...Besides. He is not perfect either. Love, faith, devotion... the work is split equally between the two of you. There is nothing to fear unless you do not trust him or do not trust yourself. So which is it?"

Kiyotaka stared at his hands.

"...Me, I suppose. I trust him."

"Then you've gotta build up that confidence of yours," Asahina prodded. "Sometimes you're really good at that! But you hold yourself to such a high standard that if you mess up even a _little_ , then..."

She didn't have to spell things out. Kiyotaka was aware of his own thought process. He chose to have faith in himself for the sake of fulfilling his grand dreams and realizing his ideals, but that didn't mean he was perfect. Far from it. His confidence wavered from time to time, and he spared little forgiveness for himself. He'd always thought that he didn't have room or time for it.

Maybe things were different now. He had been achieving the same level of success and been much happier doing it. Maybe it was time, after all, to let loose.

"...I'm being silly, aren't I?"

" _Duh!_ "

Asahina's response might have seemed inappropriate to other people, but Kiyotaka appreciated her sincerity. He smiled for the first time in a little while.

"You're right," he finally capitulated. "I ought to settle down."

"Still, you should probably talk to him about it. He might be able to make you feel better," Asahina suggested, and that was fair. Mondo deserved to know about his boyfriend's fears, if only so that he could vanquish them.

Asahina demanded a hug before she agreed to leave, and Kiyotaka had expected that much, so he didn't protest. He'd quickly gotten used to it. He thanked both of his friends for their advice and their patience, and then they left him in his dorm. He needed to get plenty of rest.

"Oh! Fujisaki-chan! You're still here?"

Asahina nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned to find the little programmer still waiting by Kiyotaka's dorm room door. Chihiro gulped and stared at the floor tiles.

"I-I didn't mean to scare you, I... just wanted to talk to Oogami-chan. If that's okay."

Asahina exchanged a glance with her friend, then looked at Chihiro, then looked back up at her friend. She didn't need to be told that this was a conversation not meant for her ears. She smiled.

"Guess I'll leave you guys to it, then. Bye, Sakura! Later, Fujisaki-chan! I'll see you both at the party tomorrow, okay?"

"Be careful not to say the word _party_ too loud," Chihiro reminded her, but she only giggled as she departed. Hopefully she wouldn't blab about it to too many people, lest the headmaster get involved.

"We are most fortunate that the anniversary happened to land on a Sunday," Sakura mused aloud once Asahina was out of sight. Chihiro nodded a quick agreement before wringing his hands together. "Oh, my apologies— you wished to discuss something. Speak your mind."

"See, um..." Chihiro had been planning this conversation for days now, but he had somehow avoided thinking of a proper way to phrase his question— his request, rather. "You see, Mondo has been training me for a while now. I've gotten a lot stronger thanks to him."

"That is good to hear. I often worry for your safety, considering your size and build." Sakura was never one to mince words when it came to her opinions of other people's muscle tone. Chihiro laughed nervously.

"I-It is good. I couldn't have done it without him, and I don't want to lose my progress, but, see... Mondo and I live far away from each other. My family moved out into the countryside by the mountains when I was in middle school. At the academy, we're always together because we all live in the same building, but once we graduate... Getting his help would be a major inconvenience to him, and he has things like getting into trade school and finding a job to worry about."

"And so, while you do wish to continue becoming stronger, you do not wish to trouble our friend Oowada-kun."

"Th-That's exactly it. So I was wondering if..." Chihiro found that he couldn't look Sakura in the face and ask this particular question. "...If you might be willing to help me after we graduate. I can't do it by myself, and I've accepted that, but... Even so, I want to get stronger!"

Sakura didn't answer right away. Chihiro feared that she found the request humorous, or perhaps insulting, and risked a glance upward. He found a proud smile resting on the gentle giant's face.

"That is... most admirable, and I would be honored to assist you. You are welcome to visit my family's dojo any time, and I would very much like to teach you some form of self-defense." She paused to stroke her chin. "I must warn you, though— I am not a lenient teacher. If you truly wish to succeed in my training regiment... would you, perhaps, be interested in joining Aoi and I on our morning and evening runs? It would be best to begin building your stamina up before graduation."

Chihiro gave a fierce nod.

"O-Okay, I can do that. I'll do whatever it takes!"

"Good. It is a promise, then."

Sakura extended a hand. Chihiro gave his friend a very firm handshake. Sakura sometimes didn't seem to know her own strength, so her grip was crushing, but Chihiro managed to grin through it and bear the pain anyway. They parted ways soon after.

Chihiro stood still for a moment, reflecting on what had just occurred and imagining what those morning and evening runs would be like. Sakura and Asahina were both athletes, so they were sure to be no walk in the park, but Chihiro had a feeling that he would be fine.

He smiled to himself as he began to slowly make his way to his own dorm room.

He had a good feeling— no, he was _certain_ — that at this rate, he would be able to tell the others his secret before graduation.


End file.
